Is Julia ok? Do Brandon and Amanda need to purge their dice? And how is Eric enjoying the failures of his players? All that and more on this Afterparty!
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Cast & Crew
- Game Master, Co-Producer: Eric Silver
- Co-Host (Umbi), Co-Producer, Sound Designer, Composer: Brandon Grugle
- Co-Host (Chamomile Cassis), Co-Producer, Editor: Julia Schifini
- Co-Host (Troy Riptide), Co-Producer: Amanda McLoughlin
- Theme Song: Lyrics by Eric Silver, music by Brandon Grugle. Vocals by Brandon Grugle, Lauren Shippen, Julia Schifini, Roux Bedrosian, Eric Silver, Tyler Silver, and Amanda McLoughlin. Available for purchase here.
- Artwork: Allyson Wakeman
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About Us
Join the Party is an actual play podcast with tangible worlds, genre-pushing storytelling, and collaborators who make each other laugh each week. We welcome everyone to the table, from longtime players to folks who’ve never touched a roleplaying game before. Hop into our current campaign, a pirate story set in a world of plant- and bug-folk, or marathon our completed stories with the Camp-Paign, a MOTW game set in a weird summer camp, Campaign 2 for a modern superhero game, and Campaign 1 for a high fantasy story. And once a month we release the Afterparty, where we answer your questions about the show and how we play the game. New episodes every Tuesday.
Transcript
Amanda: Hey, hi, hello, and welcome to the Afterparty where the— the vibe, the vibe is tough.
Julia: The vibe is a tough one today, gang.
Amanda: It's a tough one. It's like a big news story broke kind of just as everybody was arriving to the party, and now we're all here, and we're like, "Hey, it's, um, it's pretty sad, a celebrity we liked all died, huh?"
Julia: We're gonna have to talk about this, huh? Yeah.
Amanda: And here— here we are, but there is so much to cover from these three episodes, I feel like I say this every time now. And there is— there's so many great questions from the Discord, from Instagram, from our website. So players, how are we— how are we feeling generally? And, Eric, what— what was it like to watch us all do a big fail?
Eric: Oh.
Amanda: I think that's the question I want to start with.
Eric: It was awesome.
Julia: Fuck you.
Eric: It was awesome and good, I enjoyed it.
Brandon: Yeah, I can imagine it was fun for you.
Eric: Yeah, it's because I hate all of you, which is why I spend so much time with you.
Brandon: No, I mean, because we've never actually— we've never actually felt anything like that before. I imagine it was fun.
Eric: Okay. So, I've— I thought about this, right? I thought about this in regards to everything that's happened on Join the Party before. Things have gone badly—
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: —it just not has—
Julia: But not this badly.
Eric: It has— just have not been expl— because we were doing a skill challenge, it is explicitly not gone the way that it— it has been diagnosed as failure. So, obviously, the word failure or wasted came up on screen, right? But like—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —things have gone so badly before in smaller ways. For example, in Campaign Two, when Julia had to deal with the trolley problem.
Julia: Oh, yeah, that was terrible.
Eric: That literal— that was an explicit failure.
Amanda: Yeah, but there weren't like hundreds of civilian casualties.
Eric: I would say also the Bachelorette party arc, all the way back from Campaign One, went very badly.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: That's on you guys, though. I wasn't there.
Eric: That's true. Julia wasn't— Julia wasn't there. A lot of the stuff in Monster of the Week was middling at best and saved from the brink of destruction, at worst in some— in certainly in some cases.
Julia: Yeah, but that's the vibe of Monster of the Week.
Eric: Yeah, but like you just don't know— you don't know that you failed, I think is what— is what I'm trying to get across. This just happened to be the word failure came up on screen.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: We failed the actual, like, explicit game—
Julia: Yes.
Brandon: —within the game. Yeah, yeah.
Amanda: Yeah. Yeah. So, guys, let's— let's freeze frame with the stadium crumbling around us, civilians drowning question mark in— in the sea, and back up to episode 19, where we pick up in the Upsidedown Wizard Tower, where Cammie is watching the body of the first person to ever choose her, lay on the ground, talking to Laurelus. That's also where Troy has to shoot his best friend, Threelips, and Umbi gets held up a gunpoint by the end of the episode. So it's really just a— just a full throttle, you know, jumping in with both feet to— to this— this last string of three episodes.
Julia: Stakes out real high that episode. Stakes out real high past three episodes, so yeah, yeah.
Amanda: Yeah. It did. And, Julia, we're gonna open with a question from Savedman, "Hey, you okay?"
Julia: I'm fine now. In the moment, I certainly wasn't.
Eric: I— this is so fun, I love this. This is great.
Julia: Yeah, I'm fine now, because like for us 6 weeks has passed, so like, it's fine. Like, I'm—I'm good now. I've forgiven Brandon.
Amanda: You've gotten good.
Julia: We've— we've all— I've forgiven Eric for killing that person in front of me, like, you know, it's all—
Eric: I didn't ask for forgi— I didn't ask for forgiveness.
Julia: Okay. I forgive you in my heart, though. I didn't explicitly forgive you to your face, but I forgave you in my heart.
Eric: Oh, that's good. That's good.
Julia: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: Nothing is funnier to me than, like, the first person who picked you for who you were, post-curse, died in front of you. And then you had to talk to a gym teacher for, like, 30 minutes.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: I mean, the best part for me was, like, this character who, like, means a lot to Cammie and their whole backstory and everything like that, who I'd met and spent maybe a total of 5 minutes of airtime with—
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: —almost immediately died, and then I had to roleplay like it was the most devastating thing ever, even though I had met her total 5 minutes ago.
Amanda: You did meet her up the previous episode.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm. And then I had to go through the stages of grief.
Eric: While putting— while putting sizes of balls in order.
Brandon: I think the funny— the— the thing that makes it just ironically hilarious as well is that she died from falling down a vertical ball pit, like—
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Amanda: She did. That did happen.
Brandon: Like, it's gonna be funny. Just— it's gonna be funny.
Julia: It was a very silly death, and then I had to mourn horribly.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: Yeah, it's like— it's like one of those sad clowns, professionally sad clowns, you know?
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: It's just funny.
Amanda: We do have a pipin' hot question broth from Malignant Sloth—
Brandon: Ooh.
Amanda: —here.
Julia: Slurp, slurp.
Amanda: Eric, did Lazarus— that's good. That's good, Julia.
Eric: Brandon, can you isolate that and put it on the soundboard?
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Thank you. "Did Laurelus pop up as a result of the games happening, or was he more of a deity that already existed and clung to the games as his largest possible source of power?"
Julia: Ooh.
Amanda: "Did he start the games? I'm so curious about spirits and magic users in Verda Stello. How did he know Baba Rutabaga?"
Julia: World-building question. World-building question.
Brandon: Good question. That broth is full of delicious nutrients.
Julia: There's carrots in here.
Amanda: There's lots of beans.
Eric: Wow. Slurp, slurp.
Julia: Slurp, slurp.
Eric: Yeah. So Laurelus was really interesting for me, which is so funny that Cammie was put into a dire situation immediately. Because, like, Laurelus has such low-level amounts of power, because of what you said, Malignant Sloth, clinging to the games and their existence. If you remember all the way back in the first episode, it's like the games were part of a quasi-religious spiritual ceremony that got separated from that stuff as the modernization of religion in Verda Stello and et cetera, et cetera, especially of, like, you know, as it fit with pirates and everything. So, yeah, that's why he could only do so much and why he wasn't that helpful. You know, it's like you couldn't clap your hands and say, "Everyone believe in the spirit of the games," because we're so far past that. Like, we're playing—
Julia: Brandon.
Eric: If we're— I—that didn't happ—that didn't happen. It explicit— you— I was playing on Neil Gaiman's American God Rules, right?
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: That's like you have to— a number of people who care about this thing exist and has power which is why he's just kind of— he's not even there, he's not even at the games. He has— he's hiding out and can only subsist upon this like feast or famine happens, especially because the games aren't even regular. They happen every four— four years question mark. So it's likely— it's— it's not even like he has ritualization in his back pocket at the moment. So that's why he felt like such a lame duck, even when Cammie needed him at— in a— in a tough situation.
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: Malignant also wanted to know, they say, "I know Cammie probably felt like her only choice was to revive Smelly, but does Julia wish she could have used the boon on something else?"
Julia: I mean, I wish I could've used the boon on the thing that I was really trying to push Laurelus to do, which was repair the barrier, but that didn't—
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: —end up working, so—
Eric: And he might— and if he had power to do both, maybe he would have, but he also didn't want to tell you that.
Julia: Yeah, that's fine.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: I— you know what the thing is? It's like I didn't see another option and I also particularly from a role-playing perspective, did not see another option. So Cammie was not gonna let Alicia Smelly Hayes die when she couldn't get the thing that she really wanted, that would have Trolley Problem saved all those other people, so—
Brandon: When a Bradford Pear dies, does it smell better than it does when it was alive?
Julia: Well, it no longer has those smelly flowers, so—
Amanda: Stinky, stinky flowers.
Julia: Yes—
Brandon: So really you—
Julia: —so it does smell better when—
Brandon: — were doing the world a favor by letting her die?
Julia: No!
Amanda: That's fair.
Julia: No, I wasn't. Smelly things are not doing the world worse.
Amanda: Julia, Eric did you a favor, though, because you did receive the Corsair Jorbans, which number one, Eric, here is a joken, that's an excellent pun, thank you.
Eric: Thank you.
Amanda: Thank you so much. And two, is this the thematic throughline of the Eric Silver cinematic universe? That there are Air Jorbans of some kind in every Eric Silver property.
Eric: Yes, I see my time.
Julia: Okay, good. Great, just checking.
Eric: I haven't figured out a way to put average bear into this campaign yet, so this is the—
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: —best I have at the moment.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: We'll get there, we'll get there. There is, of course, so much more to go— into that happened in this episode. Brandon, I feel so responsible for your fate in this arc, because—
Julia: I also feel responsible for it too, but that's besides the point.
Brandon: Oh, really?
Julia: Yeah!
Amanda: I was so convinced that sending Orello to Radbert ship would only result in Orello coming back with the— the full rein that we lost the campaign.
Julia: Guys, guys, I fucking knew it. And I told you guys. In the moment. I'm like, "I don't think this is a good idea."
Amanda: Julia did. You did.
Julia: "Maybe I should follow him," and then Eric specifically was like, "Well, his whole thing is like getting secrets, so you really shouldn't have to worry about him." And I was like, "No, but I fucking know." I knew at that point that something was up with Radbert, and it drives me crazy that I didn't follow through with that. I had this inkling the entire arc from the minute he showed up. And I remember messaging you and being like, "Radbert's armors, is that magical or not magical?" Because I knew—
Eric: Yes.
Julia: —I knew what I wanted to do at some point and the dramatic moment, the moment never came. And so I didn't get to follow through with it and it resulted in Umbi getting shot in the head.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Yup.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: I mean, like I— I'm with you, Amanda. Like, I don't think— I don't think I want to change anything, like I think that was the best course of action.
Julia: Oh, I would have.
Brandon: I don't know why we wouldn't trust— I mean, like, I know why— why we wouldn't trust Orello, but like, we had better things to do at the time than, like, go to a mission that possibly could be fruitless.
Julia: Get 'em.
Eric: Nice, nice, nice, nice, nice.
Brandon: So I don't know, yeah.
Amanda: There's also a good question from Malignant. What did— what did you and I think about Ratbert at first? We all know Julia suspected, and Julia fucking knew it, and I was like, "Oh, this is so surprising, because he'll turn." I—I honestly knew that he had his own, you know, business going on. I think the moment where he did the tea leaf drawing with— with Cammie, in retrospect, incredibly good foreshadowing, Eric. In retrospect, incredibly sinister. But at the time, I was like, "Ooh, he must have his own character journey. Interesting. That didn't occur to me at all."
Julia: Oh, Amanda.
Eric: I have to say—
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: —multiple times, all three of you said how much you liked Radbert.
Brandon: Oh, yeah.
Julia: I— I like him as a character. I was suspicious of him the whole time.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: I like him. I still like him. I think he's great.
Eric: I like him, too. I like Radbert a lot. He has a funny voice, turns out he's very powerful, and he's really good at stuff, and it's funny, his whole character vibe is funny.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: So, I— I still like him, too.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Treybie, a new patron who asked some excellent questions this time around, so thank you. Treybie said, "Bravo, Eric, on the heavy but subtle foreshadowing throughout this entire arc. There was a peculiar behavior of Radbert, Threelips' shipwreck having rock grubs on it, the shortage of rock grubs from the vendors, so many brain blasts moments in retrospect in these past few episodes. And I wonder if I miss other small details in the arcs like these."
Brandon: I still can't get over the fact that you had us— or you had Amanda to create the snack even though—
Amanda: Fucking yeah.
Brandon: Regardless of what the snack was going to be—
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: —that was going to be the thing and like—
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: You threw— that threw us off the sense so precisely.
Julia: Yeah. Yeah, it really did.
Eric: Let me see— I'm looking at my notes here from the first episode.
Amanda: Oh, my God. Yes. Pu— peel back the curtain.
Eric: Oh, here's— yeah. So this is my note, Audrey Queen of the Damned is nearby, stealing Cragish fermented blank, and laying it as a trap for a massive sea monster will destroy the entire island. Maybe the angler fish is the thing that knocked him over, maybe— if Threelips was paying attention, et cetera. And that was all from the shipwreck episode. Threelips was not paying attention, did not see it. I was thinking about the angler fish from the First Campaign for the first thing coming in—
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: —but it— I wanted it to be a different sea monster. And that's why I knew there was something on board a Cragish ship that would have attracted sea monsters, and that's why I asked Amanda what it was.
Julia: Right.
Amanda: Damn, dude.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Interesting.
Eric: Because I know because I put rock grubs in caps, which means that I filled it in during play.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Damn.
Julia: Damn.
Amanda: Damn.
Julia: Damn. I'm still really mad at myself. I think someone else asked like, "Hey, when did you guys figure out that like the rock grubs were, like, connected?"
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: And I said— in my head, I was like, "Literally never." I asked Eric at the—
Eric: Uh-hmm.
Julia: —end of that when the anemone finally breaks through. What the fuck did I miss? Because I knew that I was missing something. Like I was, like, doing that little meme of, like, all the numbers running through my head and I was like—
Amanda: UH-hmm.
Julia: "—What the fuck did I miss?" And then you were like, "The rock grubs." I'm like, "Fuck!"
Eric: Rock grubs, yeah.
Julia: The rock grubs. Shit!
Brandon: I mean, you heard me in episode where Julia was like, "Hey, idiot, go look at the rock grub barrels." And I'm like, "Oh, yeah, let's go do that."
Julia: Well, but I was— I was completely off the— the mark though, because I thought, like, now that he released the rock grubs, they were like infected with zombie disease, and they were gonna like spread zombie plague via the food.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: I mean, I was completely lost.
Eric: A lot of people has suggested that this— the plan was like from the Dungeons and Dragons movie, where, like, you got— yeah, where you spread disease that way and I'm— I write better stories than Dungeons and Dragons the movie.
Julia: Sorry, that my brain couldn't come up with a better story, Eric.
Amanda: I— I think— I think Eric would also not give us, like, an infectious disease plot right now. I'm just saying it's a little soon.
Brandon: Yeah. That's great. Yeah, yeah.
Amanda: I just— I don't think he'd do that, yeah.
Brandon: The practical effects in Eric's campaign are awesome.
Amanda: Uh-huh.
Brandon: Way better than the ones in the movie D&D.
Eric: True. Absolutely, true.
Amanda: They are.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Amanda: We also have a number of questions about the duel, and I— I love how the thing I was most concerned about, at least for, you know, me as a player and towards the character of the duel was happening, alongside this like broader existential threat, this like NPC death, this, you know, like, huge risk to public safety. And yet, we still care about the duel because the— the key is something we need. So, I think that was just like really beautifully arranged on Eric's part, and I really felt that tension as a player where I was like, "Fuck, like I— I want to go help Umbi." And I— I know, Amanda, but you know, Troy doesn't know that Cammie is in distress right now, and yet, you know, there is this like— there's this the small stage, and then there's a large stage, and both of them are really high— high intensity and it's great.
Julia: If only like there was a spell that could, like, allow—
Brandon: If only.
Julia: —your other players to let you know—
Brandon: Yeah. Weird.
Julia: "—Hey, I'm in trouble or something like that."
Brandon: Huh.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Huh.
Eric: I don't think that it is—
Brandon: Weird.
Amanda: Weird. Weird.
Eric: I haven't seen that.
Julia: And if only it wasn't like, you know, a third-level spell, the highest spell but a certain—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: —spell caster could use at that point.
Brandon: I think—
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: —I think I've gotten pissing off Julia down to, like—
Julia: You have, you truly have.
Brandon: —precise science at this point.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: I'm pretty proud of that. It's like a merit badge.
Eric: You are— you on a tear with these three in the next episode. You're on an absolute tear.
Julia: Oh, boy. Ooh, boy.
Amanda: Yeah, you guys don't even know. It's great. Well, speaking of the duel, Malignant Sloth wants to know, "Did Radbert lose to Archimedes on purpose to get back to the ship faster and not have to be in another round of competition?"
Eric: Yeah. Can I tell you guys the plan— Radbert's whole plan?
Julia: Yeah, please.
Amanda: Please.
Julia: Reveal it to us now.
Eric: So here's the thing, that's why Radbert was bad at this, he is bad at it. He's not good at shooting, but somehow—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —he wrangled an invitation and he was just there. It was about being on the island, setting up the rock grub trap, and then seeming as unassuming as possible, and as kind of like folksy, and chill, and fun as it was. So, yeah, so in the final round, he wanted to lose immediately, so he could go down to— and set up the final part of his plan, and then get out of there. Which he ended up doing successfully while also dealing with Umbi— was surprised by Umbi on the ship, obviously. So 100% yes, that's— that was his whole plan.
Amanda: Good shit, man.
Brandon: Who did he lose to in the battle, do you— or in the duel, do you remember?
Eric: Archimedes.
Brandon: Archimedes? Tight. Of course, he did.
Julia: Cool.
Brandon: Because Archimedes is so good and perfect.
Julia: Yeah. Your sweet boy.
Amanda: Your sweet acolyte.
Eric: I love Archimedes so much. I— there— a lot of these NPCs, I really— I really enjoyed. Like, Continuous was— was just there—
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: —to make Julia unhappy, but everyone else, I totally enjoyed it.
Amanda: But it was so good.
Brandon: Oh, we call that the Brandon maneuver.
Amanda: Well, here's a question from Tashaleiahh, "How's Troy feeling about Threelips right now? Does he see the revelation as a betrayal or as a badly executed attempt to get out of hurting his friend?" And some others— Malignant, Nikki, others were just saying like how— you know, what's the relationship like? You know, how is Troy feeling about Threelips? And I mean, I— I think Troy's, you know, major feeling is feeling badly for Threelips. I— I think he feels badly. Threelips doesn't trust him. He's— he's being faced with the consequences of his own actions. And as a, you know, favored son and himbo, I don't think that's an experience Troy has had before.
Eric: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: And so Troy trusts Threelips. Troy trusts that Threelips is doing something that is best for him and for them. And so, he's not mad about the outing, but he gets it. And he thinks that, you know, if Threelips did it, it's for a reason. And if he— even if it harms Troy, it's probably necessary to save Threelips. And maybe that's naïve, maybe Troy's attitude is going to change over time, but that's where he's at right now.
Eric: If I was a fanfic writer, I would think about— because I don't— I don't want to say this is canon, but this is also me writing my own fanfic, right?
Amanda: Yup.
Eric: He's like—
Julia: Of course.
Eric: —Threelips was also— could have been concerned that people knew Troy was there, in specifically the Cragish delegation. I think this was going to come out regardless, and Threelips took advantage of the situation to help himself and kind of just further along something, so that he wouldn't die.
Amanda: Yeah. Troy knew that unfurling his wings would make him instantly identifiable—
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: —to at least the Cragish delegation.
Eric: Yeah, they— Threelips would not have done that if Troy did not do that. At that point, it was just like Threelips was in a bad situation and it turns out his best friend is alive. Like— and then—
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: — Troy, it turns out— some might say is irresponsible and Threelips needed to do what he had to.
Brandon: I don't think so.
Eric: No, yeah, not— not his pirate crew. I would-- for you--
Julia: No, never. He's the most responsible among all of us.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Not my best.
Brandon: If I were a fanfic writer, I would make Troy and Threelips kiss.
Julia: Same.
Eric: Fair.
Amanda: Same. That's your prerogative.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Listen, there is a Join the Party fandom on A03, you can go ahead and make it happen.
Eric: It's mostly Milo take— doing—
Julia: It's mostly trans Milo is what it is.
Eric: Yeah, it's mostly trans Milo. Yeah.
Brandon: That's tight. Alright, cool.
Amanda: Tight. Love it. And I mean, that brings us kind of right back to where we started the sort of record scratch, you might be wondering how we got here with episode 21. And—
Eric: Can we— can we say— we recorded 19 and 20 at the same time, that got cut in half.
Julia: Yes.
Eric: So that's why it was like one big initiative thing. That's why I kind— I was really—
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: —excited about the momentum that got maintained through the edit. So I was really stoked about that.
Julia: Yeah, it was a chunky boy.
Brandon: Yeah, we played for a long time.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah. It was really fun. Brandon, how did you approach kind of dividing that edit up? Eric, how did you approach sort of structuring the initiative when we— if I remember correctly, we sort of decided partway through to kind of go the full length. How does recording two episodes at once and editing two episodes or one recording into two episodes sort of change the process for either of you, if it does?
Brandon: I mean, yeah, from my side— I'll— I'll go first, Eric, because I think it's easier. It's pretty simple I just, like, look at the time in the raw audio, cut in half, and then roughly find a good cliffhanger, and then edit to that point, see if it's long enough, and then go from there. It's— it's pretty much the same thing as editing a single episode, is just finding the good dramatic moments, you know?
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Eric: And we have experience doing it from the Campaign. So—
Julia and Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: —that— it felt kinda like the same. It's like, "Alright, I gotta pull— we're doing two sessions lever and, like, we're just gonna keep going." What were we gonna do? We're going to stop in the middle of it? Like, it just had a lot of momentum, and it's just not something I can say about most fights using Dungeons and Dragon. So, I feel— I'm pretty happy with that.
Julia: That's true, that is true.
Eric: Yeah, yeah.
Amanda: 100%.
Eric: We talk— we keep talking about this, but like I only use initiative when you're supposed to use it. Like, I thought that the only way to keep everyone in time like that was to do initiative. And also the duel is very important, initiative is very important, because duelists swap places in initiative the entire time. So that's why I—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —had to keep everything going. And of course, then I had to add Ratbert into initiative, and then I had to add Threelips into initiative. And then I had to ad— and before that I added the Cragish delegation into it. So I really wanted to make sure, like, there was an order while still keeping movement.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Not to take us back to the previous episode, but I'm curious, Eric, how exactly, because we didn't have to talk about it, did you do the riddle question that I had to send to Eric--
Eric: Oh, my God. Yeah.
Amanda: Good question. Thank you.
Brandon: Because I feel like in the tape, you had to, like, re— revisit and be like, "Okay, the way he did that is correct, but it's not the way I did it." That's what my intuit was.
Eric: Yeah. You know, I love doing real-time puzzles for this stuff, and I want— I knew Brandon was gonna do it, and I thought it was fun. So I had a bunch of different ideas here of how to fix the locks, right? And all of them were number puzzles. For example, here's the easy one, which we didn't end up doing. It was the weight of the heaviest Pokemon in pounds, rounded to the nearest whole number, and then arranged those numbers from smallest to largest.
Amanda: Nice.
Eric: Honestly, the one that I was very excited about, I fucking biffed it, because I sent Brandon the one, the— with the— I copied and pasted my notes which had the answer in it, and I sent it to him, and it had the answer in it.
Julia: So if you have the bloopers and it's in the bloopers for those episodes?
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Which was my birthday and month, followed by the Super Smash Brothers characters and Ultimate before DLC, and then arrange the numbers from smallest to largest. And then I gave Brandon the answer, I'm like, "Fuck." So this one was a little harder—
Julia: Damn.
Eric: —because hex codes are so finicky. I was just trying to think of something and I— you know, we just— we did our best. I also tried to match it. And that was one of the acceptable answers of what— what you would be able to figure out, where the colors for Nashville gold, and Celtics green. It's different depending on what's on the internet if you use a hex picker. And also what they use, like in the marketing department, you know? So— but—
Amanda: Because it's like— it's a physical color that they render digitally, and so it's not like a digital-only color. That's like— that's the—
Brandon: Hmm.
Julia: Right.
Amanda: —the pure thing.
Eric: Yes.
Julia: Exactly.
Eric: So, yeah, but when you answered it, it was correct. I just— I had a few answers going that I would bet—
Brandon: Gotcha.
Eric: —I found that— that one was—was true.
Brandon: But my brain needs to know the one canonical answer though, that how you found that one canonical answer, Eric?
Eric: Yeah. So the canonical answer is Nashville Gold is the color Spanish yellow, which is FFB915, and Celtics green is 007a33, and then you multiply them together, which was 670695. But you ended up doing— it's just that Spanish yellow and Celtics green were the ones that were a little twisty. Here's the hardest one, which I really wanted to do. You had to take— get the street number of my current apartment, plus the address of my high school, and those numbers in a row were— were it.
Julia: That's truly insane.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: Oh, I wonder if I will able to find your high school. I don't— because I don't know that off the top of my head.
Eric: Yeah, exactly why it was the hardest.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah dude.
Julia: You have to Google him like Eric Silver high school, and then the town that you hopefully remember he grew up in.
Eric: Yeah, exactly.
Brandon: I do know that, yeah.
Eric: Yeah, that would have— that—you— you want— you might have been able to figure it out, but it was— that one—
Julia: This would take him a while.
Eric: —that one would have been the hardest for sure, for sure.
Amanda: Incredible.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: And I kind of liked it, like I wanted you to bust in when you had answers, so it was kind of fun like being able to come back and, like, deal with your thing only when you were ready to kind of, like, mix up a little bit.
Julia: Right. Uh-hmm.
Amanda: And I said it's in a previous Afterparty, but I'm so glad that it wasn't just like, "Troy, shoot over and over again," because clearly my luck with dice rolling is going down. And also that would just has been—
Julia: You're becoming Brandon. What's happening?
Amanda: — incredibly boring for— for me. So I— I love that there were lots of different, like, ways and puzzles, and the game of celebrity and all of that. That wasn't just like, "Hey, roll— roll a, you know, DC to hit?"
Brandon: I'm like a black hole of bad dice rolls.
Amanda: You are.
Brandon: I just drag everyone down into me.
Amanda: What a fun journey.
Julia: I have to cast spells so Brandon doesn't curse me—
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: —with his dice roll.
Amanda: Alright, speaking of rolls, Eric, let's get into the Skill Challenge for episode 21. So Maximilian wants to know, "Did the average of the rolls or something like that before the Skill Challenge determine how many successes the crew needed to win it?"
Brandon: Oh, yeah, I realized that we didn't say it on— on tape, so I was curious about that, too.
Eric: Yes, that's true. It could have been any—
Julia: My two did not help up that one.
Eric: Yeah. It could have been anywhere from six to eight successes, and you got the hardest one.
Amanda: Bummer.
Brandon: Oh, so you had like a range and you were like— if you roll poorly, it'll be the highest one. If you roll low, it'll be the lowest one?
Eric: It was also partially determined on the choice you made on what you were doing. You also did the hardest possible way to deal with this situation—
Brandon: Hmm.
Eric: —which is try to engage the sea monster. That's why I asked the question in the beginning like, "What do you want to do? Are you getting at the sea monster? Are you escaping through the stadium? Are you just escaping through the water?" Any engaging in the sea monster would have been harder, which is why I was harder on you, regard— in regard to that dice roll.
Brandon: Got it.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Eric: Yeah, I thought you were going to escape through the stadium. I thought you were going to run through or try to just get on your ship and get out of there. I had a whole bunch of questions lined up for running through the stadium—
Amanda: Hmm.
Eric: —but it turned out that I didn't even need it.
Amanda: You didn't get there.
Eric: We're just going to do the thing that you were going to do.
Brandon: Well, you see, Eric, my colleagues, players, friends often forget that we are pirates, and playing a pirate campaign, and they want to, like, help people and shit, so you know it was inevitable.
Julia: God forbid we try to be altruistic here on the podcast. You make it more difficult for us. It's fine. Whatever.
Brandon: See, if it were just my decision, I would have taken this opportunity to rob everyone's pockets and then leave.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: You're always down to do whatever you want, my guy, so you know, we wouldn't just left you in the crumbling stadium while Troy and I did the— the actual plan.
Eric: Yeah, we—we've already seen what happens when Umbi does what he wants to do. He blows up a— a floor and it falls all over everyone.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Well, with the way that Brandon was rolling, we might have been better off with Umbi just not being there.
Brandon: Wow.
Eric: Oh.
Brandon: Alright, whatever Julia, miss 2.
Eric: Absolutely torched.
Julia: Whatever, man. Mr. Nat 1.
Amanda: Guys, let's all gather around this rock grub fondue that I—
Julia: Ugh. Ugh.
Amanda: —created for us. Come on over, I'm going to open the windows, get the stench out.
Julia: Ugh.
Amanda: I'm going to just run into the kitchen and grab all the crudities, and I'll be right back, okay?
Julia: I don't know if I want to come right back to that.
Amanda: You have a few minutes, let's see.
Brandon: I gotta go get my respirator mask. I'll be back.
[theme]
Amanda: Hey, it's Amanda. I hope you weren't too grossed out by that fondue idea. It's— it's just a joke, don't worry. Welcome to the mid-roll, and welcome to our new patron, Bloke. You have a great name, and I'm so glad that you've decided to put some of your hard-earned human money to supporting Join the Party. It's the only way we get to make this podcast and put as much time and attention into it as we do. And I hope you're enjoying the patron-only Discord, bi-weekly party planning, and all the other ways that we kind of peel back the curtain and give you some bonus access into how we make Join the Party. And if you want to do that, if you want to be the next Bloke, if you want to have your name read on the mid-roll, join us today at patreon.com/jointhepartypod. This week at Multitude, if you ever wondered what life would be like on a planet different from our own or how writers create your favorite fictional worlds. I have good news. 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[theme]
Amanda: Alright, guys, we're back. It turns out that it did kind of ferment, gain sentience, and walk away, while I was reheating it, so I have some chocolate instead. Is that— is that good?
Julia: Much better, obviously.
Brandon: Yeah, that's much better. Much preferable.
Julia: I don't know if we can dip the crudities into the chocolate fondue, but like we could try.
Amanda: Well—
Brandon: I mean, it's better than a fucking bug, Julia.
Julia: Fair. Fair.
Eric: It's chocolate— they're chocolate-covered crickets, obviously.
Amanda: Those are good.
Julia: I mean—
Eric: I'm sure those are good.
Brandon: Never had them.
Amanda: Here's some more questions from the audience. A through Z wants to know, "Eric, was there any way that we could have fixed the shield?" I also want to know this.
Eric: It's a good question. At that point, the answer's no.
Julia: Okay, that makes me feel better.
Eric: Laurelus would have had to have more power, which would have been a whole other thread to pull on at that point in the arc. He was very far gone.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: He also wa— that's the whole thing. He was shielding the fact that he's not as powerful as his stature would believe. And I think that was kind—
Brandon: Right.
Amanda: Hmm.
Eric: —of part of it, which is why he was giving you gym class platitudes. But, you know, the answer was no. The thing that he was trying to get across was like, "What's going to happen, it's going to happen. We just— we got to— we just got to deal with it."
Julia: Good luck, bitches.
Eric: Yeah, we just got to deal with it.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: "I used my boon on bringing back your friend. That's the best I can do."
Amanda: No, fair.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: But— so the answer at that point in the campaign, no.
Julia: I'm realizing now that maybe I could have just like had him lead the monster away, and that could have been the boon. Like, if that was, like, a thing that he could have done, but I also— Cammie still would have brought back Alicia, so—
Eric: Yeah, I mean, that was— I mean, we didn't end up engaging with it at all, but it was 100% of gambit to see if you would do that or do something to further the story— to make the story easier for you.
Julia: Cammie feels too much, you know?
Eric: True.
Julia: It's true.
Eric: Absolutely true.
Julia: It's too much.
Amanda: But, guys, here's a— a nice comment from Rah_rah, fittingly named to raise our spirits. "I know you guys were bummed to fail the skills check, but honestly, I think it made the story so much more legendary, chef kiss emoji. Having played a few games on from it, how do you feel about it now?" And similarly, JoeMonokey, "How long did Julia leave after Brandon revealed that Nat1?"
Julia: I did stand up and have to walk away, and the scream you heard was like outside of my office.
Amanda: It was a great moment.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: And, yeah, I— I feel like we— we made a good story, and it feels like there are real stakes. It's the thing I hate the most, which is dramatic stakes and characters that want things and might not get them. But it— it feels— I feel proud of the journey, and there are real consequences after this. Like, we— you know, our characters don't forget this experience, and it's been really interesting and fun to play— we played probably four episodes since this one in the time since we, you know, recorded it and then released it. And it's really interesting. It's rea— it's real character growth for me.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: I mean, the next episode that comes out after this is directly as a result of us not doing well, and it's super fun.
Julia: It is.
Brandon: What we do, so yeah, I think it's a good— it's a good thing.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Eric, how about you? I— I know you— you were joking that it was— it was fun to see us stewing in the consequences of our actions.
Julia: I don't know if that was a joke.
Eric: Oh, no, it's tight as hell. I loved it. I don't know. I mean, what— the thing you do as a DM is you kind of just like set the top up and you see what happens. You rip the Beyblade, and then it flies in different directions.
Amanda: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Eric: You know, it's like— I like that you engage with the mechanic. I think that all of our game mechanics in this arc have been the literalization to see what happens next play— to figure out what happens, which I think is the thing that we— that I focus on the most when running this thing. So, it's like— you were— you were also close to doing it. This was also incredibly hard. And you've had great ideas. The way that I— I've relooked at Skills Challenges, I went all the way back to Matt Colville's Skill Challenge stuff and being able to run it a little bit differently than I have from— back in Campaign One. It was really fun. Really keeping it open-ended for you to do whatever you want as long as it was targeted towards the goal, I think was really— was really neat. So, you know, you wi— you— you win, you lose. I think that that's part of also how this particular arc went and also what we've been doing since Campaign Two, is like things happen when you guys aren't watching. And—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —unless you— you all take a beat on it. Like, the— you all pulled on threads, like, 70% of the way. You pulled on three different threads 70% of the way. And because one wasn't pulled, you didn't stop it. And I think that's just— that's how it do sometimes. And then you try to make a big Hail Mary pass and it didn't happen, and— you know, it was dramatic. I'm happy about that.
Amanda: It is what it is.
Julia: Sometimes that how it do.
Eric: Sometimes that how it do.
Amanda: One thing we did manage to avoid was PC death, so that's— that— I'm just selfishly, that's— that's good for me.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: So co— we were so close, though.
Amanda: Yeah. So let's—
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: It's a two. It's a two, we were so close too.
Brandon: Wait, two? Who was the second one?
Julia: You also went down during that Skill Challenge.
Brandon: Oh, but I wasn't even close to dying.
Julia: Well, if— if Havana Tropicana hadn't healed you, yeah, you might have died.
Brandon: Oh, I see what you're saying.
Eric: That was awesome. I also loved that. That was my favorite part was when Hava— was when Brandon, like, waved off Havana. That was awesome. I love that.
Brandon: Yeah. But Amanda was close to instadeath, that's what— yeah.
Julia: Hmm, yeah.
Amanda: I was close to full-character death, yeah. And Nikki wants to know, "Would Troy have actually died if Eric rolled higher?"
Eric: 100%.
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: 100%.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: I— I don't know, Eric, you said on the tape, you weren't sure. So, I don't know— what do you think?
Amanda: Well, let's— let's talk about it, because—so here Matleena wants to know, "How would you have handled it if Troy had indeed died? Are you guys open to character death at all?" And Nikki also asked like, you know, "What— how do we feel about main character death? Is that even on the table in our campaigns?"
Julia: I think it would have been interesting if we had to then pursue a arc where Umbi and Cammie had to hype up Laurelus enough to give him the power to bring Troy back to life.
Eric: Yeah, that might have been cool.
Amanda: In my mind, Troy absolutely would have died if—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: —like we— as we talked about it, I was like, "Oh, like I don't even know the rules for this." Like, we were all kind of being like, "Oh, shit. Like, what is this? Because we haven't gotten this close to it before." But like if it— if he rolled that high, that's the answer to me.
Eric: At the time, I surprised myself with how high I rolled.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: I think that's what I was saying on the microphone.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: And I'm like, "Oh, shit, if I— this had gone a little bit differently"— I guess— I don't— I— I can't keep track of all of your HP. It's just— though—
Brandon: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eric: —it just like—
Amanda: No.
Eric: —"Oh, it turns out that this rule would have triggered, and we have to follow the rule." If the number had hit there, I would have had to think really hard about if we honored it, I probably would have said yes.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: I mean, I think if I had, like, thrown a huge fit, all of you would be like, "Alright, like let's— let's talk about, like, whether or not we wanna do this."
Eric: Amanda would have started crying.
Julia: I— I can't imagine you throwing a fit about that, though.
Amanda: But like, I— I mean, I feel like— I feel like my character's journey in Campaign Two really prepare— like I am— I am fully onboard, dude. Like if that's what happens, that's what happens. And I think you are all good collaborators. I think, Eric, you're a good GM and you would not have been like, "Fuck you, your character dies." But I would have been like, "Alright, my— my character dies, like let's— let's play this out."
Julia: I think of the three of us, Amanda would be the most prepared to deal with a character death, a 100%. Like that's not even a question. Because like you basically have gone through that already.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Like, even though it wasn't quite character death, it was definitely character reset.
Amanda: And you know what? It was exciting and I liked it. And I—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: —you know, very slowly Eric is acclimating me to being okay with characters going through tough times.
Brandon: It would have been interesting to like— I mean, we have a built-in quasi-mechanic for undead already in this campaign, so like—
Julia: That's true.
Brandon: —bringing Troy to Audrey, making a deal—
Eric: Yes.
Julia: Ooh.
Brandon: — and having Zombie Troy, you know?
Julia: That would have been cool.
Eric: That's what I'm thinking. It's like maybe Amanda would not have had to roll up a new PC, but we would have dealt with Troy being dead, I think is the best thing to say.
Amanda: Yeah. Yeah. We would honor the fact that, like, something really necessary would have to happen, like a big intervention to bring some version of Troy back.
Julia: Maybe Amanda would have rolled a temporary PC while we pursued the bring Troy back to life—
Eric: Yeah, something like that. Yeah.
Julia: —arc.
Brandon: Make Amanda play Orello for a little bit.
Amanda: Oh, my God.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: I couldn't do it justice.
Julia: Oh, my God, imagi— imagine Amanda coming back as Lucky Edie and us having to deal with that.
Amanda: Incredible.
Julia: And Umbi being like, "I'm ambivalent about you." And Cammie being like—
Julia (as Cammie): I hate this person.
Eric: Lucky Edie as an invent—as like an investigator with, like, all of the— all of these trinkets to do stuff—
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: —it would have been wild.
Julia: Ooh.
Amanda: Trades her knives for, like, magnifying glasses.
Eric: Or like she— yeah, she like— she just pulls that stuff out, yeah, she attaches different things to her knife hand.
Amanda: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: That would have been tight.
Brandon: Guys, we can throw away the next couple episodes of the recording. We'll just go back and kill Troy if you want.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Uh-hmm. We could— we could just revamp the episode and everyone re-listens, they're like—
Amanda: It's true.
Julia: —"When did Troy die?"
Amanda: Yeah, just replace that audio file, it's fine. Nobody will know.
Eric: I think the thing I more wanted to get across, which was that Kid Cervantes is a motherfucker.
Julia: Oh, yeah.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Yes. Eric, fabulous transition because the question surgeon, Michellespurgeon would like to know, "What kind of build was Kid Cervantes? He packed some nersty punches."
Eric: Not a build, Kid Cervantes is gonna fuck you up. It's like— again, like— like when you make NPCs, and I think people should do this, when you're making up enemies for fights, give them HP, definitely give them HP. Like, we're playing a game here, you got to give them HP. You can make it squishy, you can give them— change the HP if you want to extend a battle or end a battle, fine, give them HP. But like you don't need to do anything other than just give them a series of attacks and vibes. So, it's like I had one where the first attack was going to be a big shot, and I can only do that once, and then I crit. And so bing, bang, boom, here we are.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: And I— even then I just kind of pulled— I have— I have like a— a DM's screen like from Dungeons and Dragons.
Julia: At one point, we did, like, calling you out for pulling it out, and you were like, "Yes. What's the cost of a wheel of cheese?"
Eric: Yes. Yes, that's right. I use this a lot, there's a damage by level and severity table that I use if I'm just like throwing stuff out. And for level 5 to 10, a setback is 2D10, dangerous is 4D10, and deadly is 10D10. So I use that just kind of a way— because I kind of like rolling D10s. I'm really stuck in rolling D6s, so I try to refer to this to keep my head out of that.
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: Damn. And, Julia, I was telling you the other day that I felt bad for D10s because no one rolls them. Eric's rolling them.
Julia: Eric's the one rolling those D10s, yeah.
Eric: So that's why I was saying about the numbers. They're very rangy when you use D10s, which I think is very fun.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Damn.
Amanda: Queenvenesa wants to know, "Was Kid always going to skedaddle with the key after the match with Troy?" And, Brandon, I'm curious what you think too, because you were really pushing like, "Kill him and grab the key, Troy."
Julia: I don't think we could have killed Kid Cervantes if we tried.
Amanda: Or, you know, tried to steal from him.
Julia: Yes.
Brandon: I mean, I wasn't— I wasn't pushing to, like, steal from him. I was just trying to get— or I was— I was hyping up Troy to beat— to win in the duel. That's what I meant.
Amanda: Oh, thanks, bud.
Brandon: Yeah, yeah.
Amanda: Thanks, bud.
Julia: I think your exact words were, "Kill him, take the key. Kill him, take the key."
Brandon: Yeah, but within the rules.
Eric: You know what— you know what you cheer during a football game.
Brandon: Yeah, exactly.
Julia: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Amanda: So, Eric, was he always going to skedaddle with the key? My instinct is yes, after that bonfire, where, you know, he kind of opened up to us, and we talked about what might happen if one of us does or does not win, and does or does not take the key.
Eric: This is another question where it's hard for me to say, much like would the arcane barrier have fallen anyway? At this point, in this situation, yeah. The stadium was falling apart. Like, there is a cataclysm. He— he was going to win, take out this person who underestimated him. You execute on the deal he had, and then disappear, because he's a fast dude, and get on his fan boat. Like—
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Yes. The in— in situ, yes. Things would have been different in terms of the circumstances for that to be— have been different.
Brandon: I mean, Troy still could have won. Like, it wasn't like an auto-lose situation. It was just very unlikely.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Yes. I think in the unlikely situation where Troy won, I think Kid Cervantes would have honored the deal that we made with him.
Eric: Oh, if Troy won—
Brandon: That's my version, yeah.
Eric: —Troy would have taken the key, a 100%.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Honorable dude. I just think that the whole time, the three of you underestimated in numbers, how powerful Kid Cervantes was.
Brandon: I didn't, Eric.
Amanda: I definitely did.
Brandon: I knew— I knew that cactus was here to fuck me up.
Eric: You— you tried to fuck with him four episodes earlier.
Brandon: Yeah, but I didn't engage him in a gunfight.
Eric: He— he shot you.
Julia: Yeah, that's fair. Well, he shot the wall.
Amanda: I have to say, I also almost didn't roll those temporary HP because I was trying to, like, figure out if I needed to, like, preserve my Risk Die more and I was like, "Fine. Like, Julia's gonna be uncomfortable if I go into this with 6 HP or whatever.”
Julia: That's absolutely true.
Amanda: I'm glad I did.
Julia: That's absolutely true.
Eric: Yeah, but Kid Cervantes is a— is a cowboy gentleman. He wanted you at a full HP.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: Kid Cervantes would have legit killed you if you would've gone into that fight with 6 HP.
Amanda: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Julia: Dear God.
Amanda: That's— that's the difference. Uh-hmm.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Oh, damn. On a slightly lighter note, Treybie wants to know, "What kind of tea was Cammie handing out to the survivors? And also how did she get to the announcer's booth so fast, after giving out the tea?" To which BlueSpectr replied and I loved this, "She used the tea lift. It's like a ski lift, but for tea witches."
Julia: I think I said I'm like that it was Earl Grey, because—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: —I— some— it was some sort of joke. I don't remember the context of the joke.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: And then the— the other part is fully a joke.
Brandon: Yeah, it was a joke.
Julia: Particularly like— and Cammie appears in the booth.
Eric: It's Roger Rabbit rules, you can do whatever you want if it's funny.
Julia: Exactly.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: A 100%.
Eric: Yeah, that was the same thing as like where was— where were Smelly Hayes after this? Who cares? It's fu—
Julia: She went home!
Eric: It would have been funny if she was— she either started working out down there or she went home.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: She probably went home, that's my hot take.
Eric: It's funnier, it's like Cammie's like, "I gotta go." And then hops on a magic— a magical surfboard and Smelly Hayes is like—
Julia: Yes.
Eric (as Smelly Hayes): I'm gonna walk.
Julia: And then she did. And so she was nowhere near the stadium when it collapsed.
Amanda: Yup. Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Uh-hmm. Who knows if we'll see her again? But, guys, let's get into some questions about the game, our characters, and Verda Stello as a whole, sound good?
Brandon and Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Alright. Grace R wants to know, "Can we get a quick reminder of all the different NPCs in the campaign so far? There's so many good ones, I can't keep track."
Julia: You want all of the NPCs so far in the game? That's like—
Amanda: I want— I want each of us to name the three NPCs we want to hang out with the most. I'll go first, Piney, alright. The excellent, devoted love and receptionist from the Book Depository. Two, um—
Julia: We don't get to do this round-robin style? You get to pick your three first?
Amanda: Oh, sure. Okay.
Eric: It's a draft. We're doing a draft.
Amanda: I wanted to give you guys time to think.
Brandon: We're drafting.
Amanda: Alright, alright, alright. Let's— let's draft. My first pick is Piney. Thank you. I give myself a first pick.
Julia: Mine is Framboise.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Hmm. I mean, mine is Kid Cervantes. Are you kidding me?
Amanda: It's really good. Eric?
Eric: Oh, I'm drafting too?
Amanda: Oh, yeah.
Eric: Oh, God. I'm trying to think of someone— I'm going to draft Hondo, who is the cult— the cult leader.
Julia: Yes.
Eric: Actually, no, I'm not drafting Hondo, I'm drafting Dr. Radish.
Julia: Shit. Solid.
Eric: And then I'm gonna get the snakes, and we're gonna go back. So now I get to go again, and I'm taking Lucky Edie.
Julia: Okay.
Amanda: Oh, she's so good.
Brandon: Then I'm gonna take Aubergine.
Eric: Aubergine is great. I love Aubergine.
Julia: Of course you are.
Amanda: Uh-huh.
Julia: Audrey, the Rotten Queen.
Eric: I love Audrey.
Amanda: It's really good. I want the child with the knife.
Eric: Oh, Orlando!
Julia: Orlando!
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Yup. Yup, that's me. And then I'm going to pick again, my third and final pick here in the snake draft. I think— I think it's gonna be Threelips, fascinating, interesting journey. I hope it's not the last we see of him.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Mine is Havana Tropicana.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: I think it's a 50— okay. Here, I'm gonna say one, and then you guys can say if it counts. And if it doesn't, I have a backdrop.
Eric: Sure.
Amanda: If they have a name, it counts.
Brandon: Nonny.
Julia: Yeah, fair.
Eric: Nonny's fine, Nonny's good. Nonny's good.
Amanda: Nonny's fine.
Brandon: Okay, cool. Then my backup was gonna be the banana commander.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: Oh, I was also gonna say Cavin— the Lord Cavendish. Yeah.
Amanda: Cavendish. Oh, what a good name.
Julia: Wait, no one picked Orello yet.
Brandon: Yeah, exactly, Julia.
Eric: I'm going to take everyone who is devoted to the path of cultivation.
Julia: Go fuck yourself.
Amanda: Oh, my God, there are so many.
Eric: I love the cra—
Amanda: Harold and Sil, like there are so many.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: I— the Cre— the Cresco from Cammie's flashback.
Amanda: The sod?
Eric: Yeah, the sod.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: The sod was getting out— or the, um—
Julia: The Cranberry Bog Man.
Eric: The Cranberry Bog Man—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —is good. I al— I do—
Amanda: That bartender was good.
Eric: I do like Continuous fake— Faithful. It's just that Julia was so good at being Cammie, that like— that plot kind of resolved itself pretty quickly. It's like this guy's a doofus, follow your own way.
Julia: He sucks. Goodbye.
Amanda: Alright. This one is addressed to me, but it does affect all of us from A through Z. "What does Troy plan to do differently now that his secret is out?" Brandon, I know you had some thoughts on this.
Brandon: Oh, I mean, my thought, as a player, was like, "Let's just use it to our advantage." And I think that's probably Umbi's thoughts, too. Not in a way that makes Troy feel bad or feel like a tool, you know? But just in a way that like, "Oh, my best friend has the ability to pick locks. Let's make sure we pick some locks," you know?
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: But, yeah, that's my thought.
Julia: Manipulative, is that a good word?
Brandon: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Julia: Yeah. I think for Cammie, Cammie goes—
Julia (as Cammie): No kings, no masters.
Julia: So as long as Troy is not like, "Yeah, I'm gonna be like royalty and Lord that over you guys." Cammie's like—
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia (as Cammie): It's cool, he's still Troy.
Amanda: Well, Eric, I'm sure characters we encounter will treat Troy a little differently if they happen to know who he is.
Eric: Who can say? Who knows?
Amanda: JP wants to know, "How did Troy's brother get the epithet 'the haggard?'" I think he's just really tired.
Julia: I would be, too.
Amanda: I think he's got big bags under his eyes. I think he's one of those children that you're like, "That child looks like an old man." And— and it just— it's—
Julia: The child lives some lives, man.
Amanda: It simply describes what Hyperion looks like.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Eric: In a very sort of medieval sort of way, I think they just all need an adjective to keep all of—
Amanda: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Eric: —the same names, like, straight. So, you know— in the various histories of the Crags. I think we're getting low on adjectives. So it's like that— that child sleepy, then we're gonna assign it to him.
Julia: I want to propose one that's like somewhere in the future of the Crags—
Eric: Sure.
Julia: —which is Ignatius the Indescribable.
Eric: That's— oh. 100%. Yeah.
Amanda: It's good. It's good. Eric, write it down, it's good.
Brandon: Fuck, that's good.
Julia: Jot it down.
Eric: Alright.
Julia: Credit me later.
Eric: Okay, that's fine, that's fine.
Amanda: Kazy wants to know, "Julia, how does it feel for Cammie to still not know Troy's secret, canonically?"
Julia: I mean, that doesn't bother me, because I think that there's gonna be some sort of like hand waviness of the future of like, Umbi told Cammie, or Troy told Cammie, or like, Nonny was there and we didn't know and saw the whole thing.
Brandon: Nonny's everywhere.
Julia: So I think, yeah, it's fine. I— It doesn't bother me.
Amanda: Troy definitely would have preferred to, like, tell all of you in truth, but I— I think you're sweet and not going to sort of hold it against him that it—
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: —it kind of came out in a way that he did not expect it.
Julia: Of course.
Amanda: Jess wants to know, "Does Havana level up with the crew in between arcs, or do they need to unlock more of the skill tree to level him up? This crew is going to need some more powerful healing if this is what they're facing this early in the campaign."
Brandon: Good question.
Eric: No, you got to do this skill tree. That's the whole thing, is—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: We'll keep that in mind for next time.
Eric: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, you know, we only unlocked— well, we haven't put this on the skill tree yet, because you can only reveal it once you go on down of— down a road since it kinda like—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: You know, Havana can't multi-class. Havana cannot be a religious doctor and a crunchy doctor right now.
Julia: Oh, dang.
Eric: So, we—I — we're just kind of like unlocking more of that particular branch of the skill tree.
Julia: I don't know if I want him to get more religious, but I would like him to have better skill sets.
Brandon: What if he gets so religious that he becomes an actual deity and then he could just like, you know, change things at will?
Julia: Brandon, what you've just described is my D&D dream. My dream is one day, one of my characters becomes a God, much like myself.
Amanda: Eric's quirking an eyebrow. Hmm.
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: Who can say?
Brandon: Hmm.
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: Laura-a-don wants to know—
Eric: Hold on, we've all played RPGs, you act like that's not the end of this— of this skill— of this branch, right?
Julia: I don't know.
Amanda: That's true.
Brandon: I don't know. Havana's a big, old lady, Eric.
Amanda: I don't know, man. From our very earliest moments playing RPGs together, Julia loves a big sacrifice in order to gain some celestial power.
Julia: Oh, do I.
Brandon: That's true.
Julia: Oh, do I.
Amanda: Laura-a-don wants to know, "If a pirate newspaper was—"
Eric: Wait, I'm sorry. I just think it's so funny be putting on the skill tree is like, "Alright, you need to do two Amber and you have to kill Havana so he can come back as a god."
Julia: And Cammie would be like—
Julia (as Cammie): Okay.
Amanda: Where's the knife?
Julia (as Cammie): As— as long as he's cool with it.
Brandon: And he's like, "No, no! Please God, no!"
Eric: No, I don't want this! Don't kill me!
Julia: Then— then Cammie would not do that, because Cammie would be like, "Oh, no, too real of my childhood."
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: I know. Unless it's like religiosity is increasing, he wants to get closer to the planter. Like, there's ways that could happen.
Julia: But he has to agree to it, Amanda.
Amanda: Yeah— no, no, no, he has to consent.
Julia: I'm not just gonna murder him because I want him to be a god.
Amanda: He has to consent.
Brandon: And Umbi takes the knife and slit his throat.
Julia: Damn.
Amanda: I'm just saying I think there is— I could definitely see a universe where he consents.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: If you went down a different part of the skill tree, he would just be like head of surgery.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: I just wanted to point that out.
Julia: Because this—
Eric: This is so funny that this all happened because Julia hates herself while— when she plays tabletop RPGs.
Amanda: It's fun.
Brandon: Is it possible that—
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: —we dig a hole to find treasure, and the treasure is—
Eric: Stop. We are not talking about this right now.
Brandon: —Havana as a god?
Amanda: Alright, guys. Let's pause this discussion for a very important question from Laura-a-don. "If a pirate newspaper were to cover the game, what would their outlandish headlines be?" Headless body in topless column.
Julia: What?
Amanda: It's a New York Post reference.
Eric: Small Key Island, big key disaster.
Amanda: There you go.
Brandon: Pretty good. Pretty good.
Amanda: That's cooking with gas, Eric. There you go.
Eric: It's— it's still called the New York Post.
Amanda: Maybe like it's raining needles, colon, you know, Kid Cervantes closes the day. Oh my God, that image.
Brandon: Big oopsie at Small Key Island.
Julia: Oh, sweet boy.
Amanda: Yeah. Highkey peeved—
Eric: Nice.
Amanda: —at the Small Key Island.
Eric: Nice, nice, nice.
Julia: Wow, that's good. There we go.
Amanda: I just reminded myself that— Eric, that sort of like closing move of Kid Cervantes making himself into a, like, projectile for needles, perhaps the most, like, chilled and odd I have been in any of the games that you've run. That was incredibly done. Did you think of that as like his, you know, Super Saiyan mode, his like closing move before the duel, or did that come up for you at the moment?
Eric: No, it just came up for me in the moment. I mean, I didn't think he was gonna crit, and also I knew that the— the thing was over. So, I just wanted to end— I just wanted to end it.
Amanda: Incredible.
Eric: Also in my head, I— I just have such a clear idea of what he looks like, that it's just been really fun to, like, mess with that, and demonstrate his destructive— but that's the only time I've been able to, actually, demonstrate his destructive power, so I've really felt like I had to flex.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: Does he canonically have feet in your head, then?
Julia: Or is it big pot?
Eric: Oh, he has— I think he has feet, because he has— he's wear— he wear pants.
Julia: Yeah. He do wear pants.
Eric: He wear— he wear— he wears pants and scarf.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Does he wear pants and boots?
Eric: No, no boots.
Amanda: Pants are too wide, like they just cover—
Eric: Yeah, exactly.
Amanda: —they cover the whole thing.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Big, big Gaucho pants.
Amanda: Yeah. dominique_wiki wants to know, "If Umbi and Cammie were to compete as shooters instead of Troy, what their weapons have been?"
Brandon: Oh.
Julia: Hmm.
Brandon: That's a good question. I mean, probably just like a big, old blunderbuss or something for me, like a— like a bomb— bomb—bomber bus or something, you know?
Julia: I honestly think Cammie's probably would have been very similar to Continuous Thankful's, in the sense that it wouldn't have been like a traditional melee weapon, or like ranged weapon. It would have been some sort of magic bow or, you know, magic bombs. I don't know.
Amanda: Magic bombs.
Julia: Yeah. Yeah.
Amanda: Eric, is there a weapon that you came up with that didn't fit with any NPC? Or was there a backup weapon if we had destroyed anyone's weapon? I did think about stealing Threelips' gun, but then I was like, "Oh, I can just have more, like not worth it."
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: No, I kind of just did— I gave them weapons based on who they were, just putting the NPCs in. I was really reckoning with what Archimedes' weapon was, if he was going to have, like, different ones or different forms of this, like—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —really ridiculous laser gun for each one of the rounds. But he ended up being a little bit of a doofus. So I kind of just stuck with— I kind of just stuck with what he had.
Julia: Well, whose fault was that, Eric?
Eric: Well, it's because he had a DNP— he had a DNP the first round. So that was his pro—
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: That was his problem.
Julia: Eric, can I ask a question?
Eric: Sure.
Julia: It's been bothering me, so I want to know.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: And this goes back to me not having my dramatic moment where I revealed Radbert for the— the fraud that he was.
Eric: Sure.
Julia: If I had, like, in a key moment, like, destroyed Radbert's armor, would we have, like, gotten some sort of reveal that he, like, you know, was sentient zombie spores, basically?
Eric: Oh, that's a good question.
Julia: Because I was thinking about it for a long time, a long time.
Eric: I'm not sure.
Brandon: We knew he was like a— a puff of dandelion and stuffed into a—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: —armor casing.
Julia: Right. But I felt like there was more to it than that, and I was like, "What if I revealed something beneath all of that?"
Eric: It's possible. I don't know. I don't know the answer to that.
Julia: Okay. Fair.
Eric: Because I would have had to ask myself the question in the moment, is there a visualization of his thrall under Audrey of the damned? Which I think the answer is yes, because I'm not sure— because I guess like he— we did say that they— he kind of, like, disappeared for a while and he was just kind of like— him and his pirate crew were just kind of like jobbers, and then— and then—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —were off the map for a second. So—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —which was different—
Amanda: Oh, that's another fucking clue we missed. Damn it!
Eric: Yeah, with—
Julia: No, no, I didn't miss that one.
Amanda: Which is— that I missed.
Eric: Well, it was— yeah, I don't know. I don't know the answer. I don't— I guess I don't know the answer to that.
Julia: Alright. Cool. I just wanted to know.
Amanda: That's fair. Fair.
Julia: I was like, would my moment have played out like it played out in my head to— you know?
Eric: Well, I— yeah, that's— I— I think— you would have had a problem, right? If you had reveal— you would have had to prove that he was doing something bad because I don't know necessarily—
Julia: Right.
Eric: It's not like his jaw would have fallen on the floor or something. But I think the fact that he was inside of armor, I was trying to make him look suspicious. So, yeah, I would—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —say yes, but you would probably have had— he would have tried to, like, deflect. You would have had to bring something else. Like, you would have—
Julia: Okay.
Eric: —had to know that he was doing something nefarious. Like, he only revealed it to— because he thought Umbi was— was caught.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Like, he was doing a villain monologue.
Julia: Right.
Eric: You know what I mean?
Julia: Ah, of course, of course. Alright, interesting.
Brandon: Oh, did you have, like, actual canonical thing that that smoke was on the boat, or was it just like some kind of like, you know—
Eric: Yes, I did. I want— it was poison, but the point was Radbert— what is something you would pull it if you were a zombie person? You would do— you would put poison— that you would be able to breathe, and that was the— that was the thing.
Brandon: Oh, I see what you're saying.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: Sure. Cool.
Eric: So that she was just in there, and Radbert would have been fine. So, yeah, maybe he was— so I think he was a zombie, yeah. I— I would have figured it out.
Julia: Okay. Cool, cool, cool, cool.
Eric: I know that these things happen, but I don't literalized it unless I'm in the moment, because if you do that, you end up writing 30 pages and throwing out 27. So—
Julia: Right, that make sense.
Eric: —so I just— I didn't think of it, but yes, the— because of the smoke, Radbert does not breathe, therefore that's why that was there.
Amanda: Hmm.
Julia: Gotcha.
Amanda: BlueSpectr wants to know, "Are we going to get a spooky season ghost remix of the shanty for when we run into Audrey at some point?"
Brandon: No.
Julia: But what if we did?
Brandon: Because that—
Amanda: What if we did, Brandon, please?
Brandon: —is a lot work.
Eric: Hey, Brandon, what if we did a musical episode?
Amanda: Well, that'd be fun. Well, that'd be good for you?
Brandon: That sounds great. Let's do that.
Julia: Would that be good for you?
Amanda: Players, Eric, any other questions before we get into Spoil the Plank?
Julia: No. Let's do it.
Brandon: Let's do it. I'm up on the plank. I'm ready to jump.
Amanda: Alright. Who goes first?
Julia: Who goes first off the plank?
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Me!
Brandon: Oh.
Amanda: Size or—
Julia: I know how to swim with no arms.
Brandon: Is it, yeah, order of height?
Amanda: Probably.
Brandon: So Julia—
Amanda: Probably Cammie, then Troy, then Umbi?
Brandon: Oh, I was thinking us.
Julia: Oh, I was talking about us—
Amanda: Oh.
Julia: —particularly, not characters.
Amanda: No, I was thinking characters. I think Troy and Umbi are— are similar heights, but Umbi's got that mass, bro.
Julia: I think Cammie's so small.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Little.
Amanda: Alright.
Brandon: He's got a hunch though, so he's probably shorter.
Amanda: Oh, yeah. That old man— old man hunch.
Eric: You know how you shrink when you're old? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Amanda: Yeah, it happens.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Umbi was 6' 2".
Amanda: Damn.
Brandon: And he still is, but he's like a 6' 2" that's bent over, you know?
Eric: Bent over 6' 2".
Amanda: Here we are for Spoil the Plank. From Living in Color, I've got to know everything about this underwater prison. Prison glowlight for the cacti?
Julia: Hmm. Hmm, interesting.
Brandon: Who can say?
Eric: I don't know.
Amanda: Who can say?
Eric: Who knows?
Julia: Who can say? Maybe that's— their torment is not having glowlight.
Amanda: Glass Cat Owl wants to know, "If Troy had managed to beat Kid and win the key, would Kid have offered some other incentive to help save his siblings or would that whole quest have gone unexplored?"
Julia: Oh, interesting.
Brandon: That is interesting. Yeah.
Amanda: Who can say?
Julia: Eric— Eric can say.
Amanda: I don't think he will.
Julia: Oh, okay. Alright, he's just shrugging at us. Alright. Fair, fair.
Eric: What— I need to remind people, that happened because Brandon gave a character who had no mouth, a mouth. Like—
Amanda: Yup.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Eric: —lots of unexpected stuff happened.
Amanda: Fully, who can say?
Brandon: I mean, I love that— I— I love that you, like, gave him a mouth, as opposed to like, I don't know, maybe like— maybe he shot needles into the ground in lettering, or like—
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: —use like—
Julia: Or just, like, took a piece of paper.
Brandon: —Morse code—
Eric: Yes.
Brandon: —or like— yeah.
Julia: Throw it out as answers. I don't know.
Amanda: I want to know what the hell happened to the mayor of Small Key Island after the stadium collapse.
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: Who can say?
Brandon: Oh, he lost his election in the next round for sure.
Eric: That was another thread that didn't get pulled on.
Julia: Brandon—
Eric: That was another thing.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Julia: Brandon, I don't think that's true because the mayor in Jaws One is still the mayor and Jaws Two, and that's why you vote in your local elections.
Brandon: That's true.
Amanda: Listen, Mike Bloomberg has— has shown us that it really just— you just— you—you double down when a disaster happens, though.
Eric: Yup.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: And Malignant, our question and broth brewer themselves says, "What was Troy's funeral like? Does Lily Rose has some kind of power in the Crags?"
Julia: Didn't we say that it was very nice in Troy's funeral? There was nice music, it was very tasteful.
Amanda: Very tasteful.
Eric and Brandon: Very tasteful.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: The only canonical thing so far is, yeah, it was very tasteful.
Amanda: Yeah. Lily Rose seems to have more influence with the guards than average. So does she have power too? Who can say?
Julia: Isn't she the— she's the daughter of the kitchen—
Amanda: Of the cook, yeah.
Julia: —person, right?
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Listen, everyone befriends the cook in a medieval castle.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Julia: That's how it works, so you get the snacks.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: That's possible.
Julia: So she has power because she influences who gets snack and who does not.
Amanda: But she was also there in the delegation, which seemed unusual to me. So there—there may be more to pull on here. That's why I— I—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: —put it in Spoil the Plank. And then finally, are Troy's brothers gonna be pissed that he's alive? He seems not to have a great relationship with them.
Julia: How many brothers does Troy have besides Hyperion?
Amanda: Oh, seven or eight.
Julia: Seven or eight? Alright.
Eric: Yeah, you gotta have a—you gotta have a brood if you're— if you're—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —going for the Cragish crown.
Amanda: You gotta.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: You gotta.
Julia: Interesting. Interesting.
Amanda: Can't let them fly, but you do have to have space.
Eric: In my head, I know that this—this did not happen, but like the— if this was a Tom Sawyer situation where Troy was watching his own funeral, Troy was like, "This is boring. More explosions, more flips, please."
Amanda: Where are the fireworks?
Eric: "I need stunts. I explicitly put in my fake will when I need stunts. You're not doing anything that I said."
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Well, now, that— well, now we know what to do for Eric's funeral.
Eric: Yeah, stunts. Stunts.
Julia: There you go. I'll learn how to backflip for your funeral.
Eric: Yeah, invite Travis Pastrana to get on his motorbike and do backflips.
Julia: Okay, okay.
Brandon: I have been told that my brother-in-law's family does know Travis Pastrana somehow.
Eric: Whoa!
Julia: What?
Brandon: So—
Eric: And the whole Nitro Circus Gang?
Brandon: And the whole Nitro Circus Gang.
Eric: Wow!
Amanda: Dang.
Eric: That's a reference for people who watched MTV in 2006.
Julia: I didn't. What do you mean?
Amanda: Yeah. No, I was just— I was sitting here thinking about how— you know, if it comes to— which I hope it doesn't, I will hire Don Cheadle to reprise his role from the Ocean series, of Don Cheadle playing a British man playing an American motocross driver to do some stunts in your funeral.
Eric: Oh, yeah.
Julia: I'm talking heavy bikes.
Eric: Heavy bikes!
Amanda: Yup, yup.
Brandon: Incredible.
Amanda: Well, guys, this is not really cathartic, I'm glad we—
Eric: When Eric— when Eric died, we were in rubble, but Barney Rubble is trouble.
Amanda: I— I don't know that because I am American man, one of my colleagues told me. I was just thinking about Barney Rubble, that means trouble yesterday. Alright, folks, this has been cathartic, this has been good. We have hot shit coming up for you next here on Join the Party. But in the meantime, folks, let's say goodbye.
Brandon: Goodbyeee!
Julia: Later.
Eric: I really enjoyed watching you all fail.
Julia: Thank you, buddy.
Amanda: May your roles trend ever upward.
[theme]