Fireside Chat for Chapter 2

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Fireside Chat for our chapter two arc of The Wizard, the Witch, and the Wild One.

I am your host, Erica, and you may know me from the Fireside Chats as well.

For those of you who are part of our Fireside on our Patreon, we normally have these discussions

just for the pals and the Patreon, but today we are going to be talking about chapter two,

the Citadel Ark.

And it's going to be out there for everyone to hear.

So come one, come all, and meet my fellow hosts here by the fireside, Abria Iyengar.

Ahoo hoo, Crackle Crackle.

It's so nice to be like on the other side of the veil talking to everybody.

Yes, and

what is Crackle Crackle?

I don't remember anymore.

Ah, very good.

Brennan Lee Mulligan.

Ahoohoo, Crackle Crackle.

You can find these catchphrases and more by the fireside.

That's right.

As well as bits.

Bits that are so deep and twisted and tangled that you're not quite sure if Brennan Lee Mulligan actually had a child.

I didn't know for

so long.

I still think it's great audio work.

I think it's him and Taylor just going to work.

Oh, yeah.

Absolutely.

And our final member of our podcast.

It's me, Lou Wilson.

I'm just here for the birthday, for the birthday celebration.

I'm here.

And I'll tell you, the minute we are done celebrating, I'm fucking gone.

You got to get back on that

jet ski.

Exactly.

I've got quests.

I've got personal quests that need to be fulfilled and lots of friends to hang out by the fireside.

But for this one, you get the real deal, baby.

Especially of you who are not normally joining us for the fireside,

we will always have a stand-in for Lou Wilson.

And though they may sound very similar to our friend,

they are in fact other

fantastic improvisers, comedians,

workers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, yes.

Museum of Art, yes.

Craig Sumgee.

Yeah, Craig.

Craig is, you know, or pilots like

Dick Goose.

Right.

And then Tomahawk was sort of our man on the ground.

Yes,

he's a more kind of physical chap.

Yeah, yeah.

As well as all of these incredible fictional men, you can find and more.

Fictional, but

watch it, dude.

Well, and when I say fictional, I mean, you know, what do you mean?

Fiction spinning

storytellers.

Oh, yeah.

Right?

Like, for example, there's an aisle at the library that says fiction.

Is that not the fictional aisle?

Oh,

that's short.

Sit with that for a second.

What makes you think?

I'm going to come back to that article.

What makes you think?

So for a lot of chapter two,

Brennan was absent for

our talk box.

So

some of this one and some of our, we'll actually have a future episode where we

ply Brennan with world-building questions.

But today we are talking about chapter two.

And

I don't know.

Do we want to just do a little quick rundown of

what happened?

So if you're listening to this episode, you have just concluded chapter two, which means you swirled through dreams in Ahmed's mind as the curse cut from her by the sword wave breaker had her realize all of the lost memories of a lifetime of serving as Grandmother Wren's apprentice.

You watched her come to within the majesty and wonder of the citadel, the Erian, the glass tower at the center of the Arulean Desert, and you saw some of Suvi's life as she was granted her name cloak, the wizard's sky, appointed to the tower of the glove as the apprentice archmage of the Archmage Silence.

Boyfriend!

And your boyfriend, Silver!

We're calling it so we can, so we can label it like that?

You're the one that just screamed, boyfriend!

Yeah, while he wasn't in the room, like a good girl should.

That's a true.

I have been, this is a true story.

The first time I was referred to as a boyfriend by my now wife was in third person while I was present before we had talked about it.

No!

Correct.

Respect.

The way God intended.

Respect.

Falling shots out here.

It's so funny because I feel like there's a thing in our society where it's like

you have a connection and you downplay it, but every once once in a while you have a connection and someone upplays it, where you're like, oh, I hope we're moving in the direction of being partners.

And it's like, oh, well, we're taking it slow.

No reason to label it.

And then you're out in society and someone like, well, this is my boyfriend.

And you're like, so out in the light of day, I'm good enough to be a boyfriend, huh?

Okay.

Okay.

But yes, Silver.

I love it.

We saw Bear, the strongest man in Silibri, Ursulon, training with the Sword of the Citadel, Steel.

And incoming too, so we had the big party in Gavril where you were reaching out.

The name cloak ceremony!

Name cloak ceremony!

The beautiful name cloak ceremony, and then being reached out to by ice fairies with no genitalia or lower GI tracts.

You turned Taylor into a fucking

transformer.

He became a Decepticon.

You may have heard a hacking laugh from Taylor Moore, our incredible producer of sound designer in the other room.

We are at production camp recording this right now.

The fairies, the ice fairies,

told of a conclave of the coven of elders that would befall in several days' time

that Ahmed to get to.

At the North Pole, the Palace of Indry, the witch of wind and stars.

And after that, Ahmed did a speed run of Grandmother Wren's old allies within the Citadel.

You went to the Kassov Collection, a terrifying place where conjurers seal spirits and paintings and portraits on the wall.

There, Ursulan detected senses of his sister, found the fiend Obelfind, who spoke to him, tried to get him off the wall.

There was a moment of almost violence between Suvi defending her home and Citadel against what she saw as another part of Quest Fever, where her spirit brother Ursulan was charging recklessly off into action.

And you cornered Pomeroy, the jailer of the Cassoff collection, and a spirit who, you know,

was a nasty customer who revealed that Grandmother Ren had his true name.

You met the wizard Sly,

the uncle, the head of the Office of Preemptory Catastrophic Deviation, who told you that if Ahme was unaccompanied by Suvi to the council, her station would be destroyed and she would die.

Who said that if Ursulan didn't get a shield, Suvi and Ahme would be dead within the year, just called a bunch of really heavy shots,

scooped a bunch of rubies into his jacket, and teleported away.

And then you met Gult and his daughter Hannah, who work at Tulliver Mill, and you got yourself a shield, which Ursulan painted with a tree using some spirit from his sister Kaliah, who was revealed to you have been disguised for years in the mortal world as the Wizard Stripe.

After that, there was a crackdown as there was some treason afoot in the Citadel.

Steel returned.

Fort Kieran was attacked farther afield by forces from Gauthmai.

Steele told you that Jorin, an old friend of your parents, was there.

And then the shit really hit the fan as time was of the essence.

Ame felt she needed to leave.

Steele needed more time.

Suvi was caught in the middle and the party split.

Ursulan traveled to find his sister Kalia as an old woman with her family in Gauthmai after a brief encounter with the man in black.

Suvi was comforted by her surrogate mother Steele, who told her that, you know,

they will always underestimate us, but there's something we can do, and gave you a skyship.

And then Amay awakened the spirits of her cottage and Toma that she had truly inherited, and then stepped on a plate and vanished into the far north as the deck of the Meridian was covered in ice.

And Ursulan is still on his way.

And that's chapter two.

He was over.

That was impressive.

Oh my God.

that.

The problem is, we're clapping at the same time, so it feels like insane.

A single clap,

and that's chapter two.

There it is.

Yeah, that was that's been our time.

Thank you so much.

We'll see you in a month.

Uh, this was a

arc in which we I actually just uh

sent a video to uh Shannon, our lovely community manager, um, of all of us starting out the arc arc and Brennan saying, Okay, well,

arc one was, you know, there was a quest,

like a pressing plot.

This one, I'm just gonna let you guys be in the sandbox and we'll pick up wherever it is that you wish to go.

If you feel like a couple episodes in, where is Brennan going with this?

The answer is, I'm going where you go, you kind of drive this.

And considering this was sort of the fun times arc, supposedly,

where we get to, but we do get it for one good episode of us in the bloody carnival and Shura's chowder.

And, you know, there was a lot of driving done

by Ursulon and Suvi of what we were looking at in the Citadel and what it all looked like and how they felt about it.

And that was fun.

And we should probably just be back there eating chowder.

Yeah.

Why can't we have soup and sexy carnivals more, Brennan?

Yeah, with hot Tom, freaky Tom Hardy.

Ooh, freaky Tom Hardy.

Hey.

With a dolly mustache.

When we get Tom Hardy with a Dolly mustache and a top hat, and

first of all, let me be very clear.

Lou Wilson is why we have giant clams full of amazing steward.

That was so good.

That was so good.

Take me back.

Can't even eat seafood.

That is a thing I forgot is true.

Hey, this is a fantasy, all right?

Yeah, this is your power.

We're living a fantasy where my characters can eat all the seafood they want.

I just need you to know that the idea of a risotto slow cooked inside of a massive clam is like,

it's a perfect, I just want it so bad.

Cracking it open, the steam, the broth, the rich, fatty broth.

And maybe a pearl.

Maybe a pearl.

Maybe a pearl.

Maybe one day I'll make it.

I see it very clearly in my mind.

I could create it.

I know that I could.

And I know I have the skills to do it.

And I just have to buy the giant clam from Pottery Barn.

And when I do, I will be complete.

Unbelievable.

In the notes for this episode is going to be a little link.

We're just going to have a little registry.

Yeah.

If anyone wants to help me, if anyone wants to buy me a giant clam,

I need two halves.

I, yeah, I feel like, I don't know,

we've talked about this before, but one of my favorite parts of fantasy books and fantasy movies was the food.

It's, you know,

the Japanese food in Miyazaki and the rice.

Yeah, so good.

And the...

All the little feasts in Redwall.

Yeah, the candied chestnuts, which I recently had.

Chestnuts are disgusting.

They're so gross.

I don't like them at all.

A roasted chestnut?

Awful.

The thought of a roasted chestnut?

my favorite thing.

Oh my God.

No, but the candied chestnuts where they're like soaked in sugar for days on end.

You guys can't see a Bria's face, but there is no way to make that.

I love a good moist chestnut.

That sounds tough.

That honestly.

Yeah.

Doesn't that sound delicious?

I was on a little hill by myself, and then you said that the way you said that, and then they joined me.

That sounds like something Tim Curry would suggestively call you we're like you just a moist

would and that got me back oh my god would you would yeah

yeah

what were we talking you got wow i brought up tim curry and you both straight up blue screened i watched fucking pinwheels form on a bria erica's face in that moment listen we know how often that happens while we're recording this we're like what was that nbc like hold on

yeah wow subie does does something bitchy i don't know i'm in my mind palace

i'm so how big is the donk on this one

speaking of roll for

cheeks roll for cheeks come on brendan come on brendan bring us back speaking of which wait though there actually is a donk there's a donk there is of course yes for every arc talk back we gotta talk donk this one comes from ben fogel ben you are the way the truth the light thank you for keeping us honest on the podcast.

Ben asks,

oh, I just had so much Thai food.

That's not what Ben asks.

That's a statement from me.

Ben asks, who has the most bodacious badonka donk in the citadel besides, of course, Pomeroy?

And...

Ah!

Wait, no.

A spider.

Spider-body, right?

Spider body.

He got a big ol' ass full of silk.

Exactly.

Another two.

You said it like it was a little sexual, too, which really threw me off.

Yeah.

You're telling me that you don't ever see a spider and just sort of rub your hands together?

Damn,

I knew Brendan was a monster fucker.

What that abdomen do?

What has this podcast become?

I don't know, man.

This is for a completely new.

We're penetrating a new audience right now.

Yeah, penetrating.

Hello.

She loved me.

I mean, what?

She loves.

She loves.

What did she do?

She loves.

She loves.

I don't get that reference.

Yes, you do.

We watch Twins.

The Twins.

I really want.

I won't lie.

In my head, as we do this, all I can hear is, I don't know who the song is by the one that goes,

I'm going to chase you out of her.

There's just something about watching, walking behind a giant spider with your hands.

We're all rubbing our hands.

Just crossing a New York street.

What do I have to do to get my head bitten off by you?

Yeah.

That's what we're asked to do.

Incredible.

I'm going to chase you out of her.

And the answer is the wizard's slate.

Ooh, yes?

What?

The wizard's slate?

The most caked up in the citadel?

It's not silver?

No.

Why would you not?

Okay.

Not the most caked up.

No, no.

I could imagine.

I feel like Slate does unreal squats.

Yes.

Slate's doing those squats that are like that video where the guy is just like, there's a whole crowd of people around them.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's that kind of like.

Slate gets in the squat machine and does a rep and goes, that's a little tougher than normal.

And someone points out that she didn't unlock the bar.

Yeah.

Like, just lifted the full apparatus.

The whole thing went up with her.

Yeah, for sure.

But let's be clear.

If Silver was the most caked up in the Citadel, Suvi has a different interaction with him when he's ready to go.

She's like, I'll burn down.

I will kill all of Galthma myself.

You stay in this little fuckroom and wait for me.

My little level two ass is going to go end the war real quick.

Yeah, I'm going to find Yorin and handle this now.

I want to say, and I hate to, I always hate to disappoint.

I always hate to disappoint, but I think the Wizard Slate has, is up there if the if the measure for a bodacious bedonk is purely visual.

I think you see the wizard slate in the gym and you go, wow, impressive.

Congratulations.

A specimen.

But remember, slate has a permanent stone skin effect.

So I don't think that if part of the bedonk experience is the jelly, is the jiggle,

I don't think there's a ton of jiggle

physics.

Yeah.

That's so real.

But we said canonically, we said

Mr.

Racamonte.

Yeah, oh, that's tricky.

Tom Hardy.

Canonically.

Canonically, Losario.

I think Losario's got a comment on that for sure.

Losario for sure.

But Slate has like a geode.

Yeah.

So it's like rockard.

Yeah.

Busted open.

Endless jelly.

Yeah, if you spank Slate, your hand hurts.

You made a mistake.

Yes, absolutely.

A million percent.

That's fair.

And how is Mr.

Rakamanti doing?

Yeah.

I think, did we just, did that get described?

In

what are you about to say, dude?

Oh, that's the thing.

I thought we talked about him getting rented by the marriage.

Well, you said that they were dragging people out of the bloody carnival during the day.

Losario.

Yeah, Losario is implied.

I think if we had seen a visual of him, it would have been like bloody face, like cracking the top of the head.

This arc would have gone so away from him.

No, I know that.

If you said they hurt his face, you think the justification machine would have worked like that?

You're like,

they were gonna wail on the ass, and he said, Not the ass!

And then that's how that makes more money.

Lesario tries to go through the justification.

The pain of Lesario tries to go through the justification machine gets stuck on that ass.

He breaks the whole thing down.

Yeah, it's like those little like old-timey dryers where you like pass and swing it through and ring it.

The machine is thin.

In Suvi's mind, it's just Lesario's butt can't, the ears can't get ground.

It's like, I can't make this.

She goes and kills the wizard silence that night.

That night.

We just see her like a flamethrower, full balaclava, just

literally being radicalized.

If Lesario's ass isn't a part of the Citadel, then the Citadel falls tonight.

Yeah, you want the radicalization to see me threaten that fucking ass.

Oh, my God.

So if you're listening to the podcast, you know that what you can do to help the movement is get caked up and make somebody believe.

Yep.

We just come back when we return to the Citadel in

the name of the town at the bottom?

Haverward.

Yeah.

Haverworld.

Haverward.

Everyone's just fucking, there's squat racks everywhere.

Everywhere.

Everybody's wearing those shorts, those leggings from Amazon.

Everyone's got hands over the head, tucking the tailbone.

Do you hear the people singing and singing a song?

Goblet goblet squats are a societal good exactly

yeah yeah yeah wow you just made two jokes that were specifically for me i think

this one's for you

this one's for you

hey this one is like this one is a a very broad one um but i think it's the best one oh my god this one's also from ben fogel

i think we also have different ben fogel works we gotta ben what are you doing doing out here?

We have a spreadsheet with thousands of questions.

Thousands.

Thank you.

It happens to a light on two.

And if you're wondering how to submit questions for these talkbacks,

they are submitted over on the Fireside, which is our name for our Patreon.

And a huge thank you to all of our incredible patrons over on Patreon who enable us to be able to make this show and share it with the world.

And we are so deeply and profoundly grateful.

What a tone to slip into after talking about butts for 15 minutes.

But this is a very broad one from Ben Fogel.

Thank you, Ben.

Which is just a nice one to sort of kick off with after the bedonk discussion, which is just what was your favorite moment from this chapter, from this arc?

Like, favorite NPC, favorite choice, like character made?

I definitely have, I feel like mine,

I definitely have mine picked out for the three of you from this one, but I'm just interested what your favorite moments from the chapter were.

Mine's absolutely the exit.

There's something inside of all the things that aren't said but are very clear

like within the nature of the story and the amount of trust that goes into we're gonna make some moves that maybe

that maybe you wouldn't make in at like at a table or telling a story where you're like the the party stays together and we all do the next thing together But like there was a moment where I was like, okay, these are the people I love and like most in the world.

Let's let's let's go for it.

Yeah, so I just really liked that we were able to pull off the exit from the citadel the way it happened because it was just exactly right for where everyone was and where everyone is now.

And it just it feels like it sets up so many cool things.

I would say for me, it's definitely the night out in Haverwork, now that I know what it's called.

Because I do think there's something to like, Arc One is great, and we get to watch these friends who you watch meet in the

children's adventure and become friends and become intimate.

And then they come back together in Arc One, but there's a lot of purpose in Arc One.

There's a lot of like, we got to get this thing back.

And then I got to have Quest Fever and I got to save this guy.

And there is something to that night out that's like, oh, these are true friends.

Like there was something very fun to getting to play a kind of significant chunk of time as what does it mean for friends to be friends and to share space.

And this is why, like, it felt like a fun moment to be like, to, to dramatize friendship and specifically the friendship that exists between these three.

I found it to be, I think, like...

like piggybacking off of yours, it gives you the strength to do something bigger because you get this moment of actively engaging with the intensity of that friendship and knowing that that is real and not just like a label.

It is like a, it is active and it is alive and it becomes the inspiration to make more dramatic choices.

So I think as a player, I think to actively play out the joy between these three people in a joyful space was very,

it was one of the moments when I was like, oh, we're about to, we're about to, we're kicking.

We're in it.

We're in it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think, oh man, I was thinking,

I was like, is my favorite part the ending and the leaving, or is it when we were out having fun?

And so I'm glad that you two covered that because it's exactly what I would have said.

I think it just overall, I love how this arc really did.

I love the first,

I love our first chapter and I loved playing it.

It felt so like the beginning of a grand adventure.

This one really subverts gameplay and us being like a game.

And it kind of has become like, oh, we're very much telling a story.

Like we do all of the things that are quote unquote wrong for a game, right?

We split the party.

I mean, we did a little bit of that.

I think it felt like us pushing boundaries like in the beginning and the in the first arc of like Ursulan leaving and then all of us had split for just one episode.

But this one of being like, oh, it's party conflict and like difficult, complicated feelings.

And it's not over something like,

you know, as

Abria had said in the last talk deck episode, a lot of times, you know, in

stories, bad communication is just the result of, oh, you can just, you should have just said this one thing and everything would be better.

But this was.

conflicting personalities and different duties and like unset things unsaid and just like everything that led to like something that you would truly never be able to do in a home game, right?

Like, other, but like, we were like, Yeah, this is our home game, and we wanted to play it like this.

Um, I, yeah, so, so that, and then also the justification of a party being together and why they care so much.

Because, especially if, you know, if you're listening to this now,

you may not have heard the children's adventure.

That gives so much context.

You can definitely enjoy The Wizard, the Witch, and the Wild One without having heard the children's adventure campaign but it adds so much context to people and to these characters and uh so much of their backstory um i think that the citadel arc does that job like picks up that job for people especially who haven't listened to the children's adventure it's like oh i see

why these people work together and why they're together and like why they love each other and it gives stakes to whatever happens next and to the it gives stakes Lou's answer of of the the night out on the town gives context to Abria's answer of of like the leaving and why they are like that and why it matters to us so that that was that's crazy to me and as far as playing I think that the two prov that Brennan and I did for Ame's coma flashback

was

one of the most satisfying things I've ever gotten to do.

I was terrified because Brennan said, up top, I'm going to throw you some curveballs.

We're going to start out and it's just you and me.

I was like, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.

And just being able to feel like, yeah, I held my own in that, you know, and yeah, like.

Held your own.

Oh my God.

It fucking wept my eyes at that.

The thing where

you like, it's the darkest we've ever seen Ah get.

There's a moment in the beginning of this chapter, the first episode of this chapter, where we hear, like, Ahme, who wrote, yeah, who wrote, Be Kind, and is the witch, and she's got the cottage, and she's helping, and she's got this little fox that she's trying to be like, don't you be naughty, kind of thing.

And we see her as a teenager going, I could make them think I was normal, right?

The perfect context setting for every, like, again, it's the setting something up at the beginning that pays off at the end.

Like, the grab and the beginning of what will mechanically be like Ahme's retributive of curse

get seeded with the like how the ways in which that could be exploited by Ahme's little moment of like, I could make them lightly.

Like there is a sense of great power and the ways in which we watch

Grandma Wren like scramble to like, okay, okay, okay, hold up, hold up.

And it's like, it's just so good.

You guys handled that so well.

It was everything.

I was like, let me just be as far away from the microphone as possible so I can make my tiny noises and no one can hear them.

But like, y'all crushed.

It was so good.

There's a very interesting thing.

Yeah, the moment, and especially like the moment where I was surprised by, because there's a moment where, you know, we've talked about this before, but Ahme is rebellious.

Grandma Rand gets big and goes, like, that's not okay.

Ame doubles down and goes, like, well, I could make, you know, like, and you fucking, you can feel the shadow lengthening in the room.

You can feel how Ahme gets to wickedness.

There is no witch to whom the door to wickedness is not unlocked.

And

what a phrase.

And so there's a like moment where you see, it's like, oh, that's how Ahme would get there.

And I was surprised that Grandma Ren hugged you.

It was a weird instinct in my I was like, oh, you can't.

Now it's something else.

And you immediately broke down.

It was heartbreaking, the thing of

when you said you know to the she's because she says you miss your friends don't you which is a total zag in the conversation and you immediately go uh to them i was to everybody else i'm just oh to them i was ame and to everybody else i'm just a witch yeah

and

what a parental figure played by brendan lee mulligan responding to one of us going like

my friends left me and i feel crazy about it and i acted out a little bit parallel oh my god yeah And it's like, it was in that moment that I was like, you're going to be such a good dad.

If you have a kid.

If you have a

kid, unclear, unclear.

Yes.

What I know, you will be a good father.

If you have a kid, unclear.

It's actually, because obviously everything in life, you're always studying.

When you tell stories for a living, you're trying to study everything in life to come into a greater knowledge of...

human nature, the world, the relationship between cause and effect and consequence.

Because whenever you're making art that's about a story,

you're trying to make a map for the world, right?

A map is useful because it is like an inaccuracy.

It's like it's small.

I can hold this in a bag.

The map is not the territory.

So, like, this, its smallness is its usefulness, but you want it to be as faithful as possible.

And it's interesting playing those parental characters, and especially as a new dad, there's a really wide-so there is a kid.

I will confirm here in this moment.

Wait, hold on.

I am actually.

Let me take a deep breath.

Yeah, Yeah.

Deep breath.

Take a deep breath.

Oh.

What a weird breath.

Is that good for you, Taylor?

Did you like that?

Why did you vocalize so much in that breath?

What?

It wasn't even an exhale.

Dude, say the nice thing about being a fucking dad, dude.

No, I'm going to rush you before I do that.

What?

You went.

Bro.

You went.

What?

Is that not how you guys breathe?

When you guys are in yoga class and you're like, activating your vocal cords when you breathe?

Is that not?

I'm going to tell you,

in voiceover for some games and shows, it's not true.

They want, well, yeah.

They're like,

can you breathe, but make it a noise?

It's called tennis breaths.

Yeah.

Yeah, Brendan.

I just tennis breaths, all right?

Listen, this is what a non-vocalized breath should sound like.

Okay, your voice sounds like

I've never done that.

That's like the mountain that they go into in Return of the King, like when they do the first perspective thing.

That's the okay.

That way, Abria does not get that reference because we did, in fact, not make it to the third one.

We will get to a point in this campaign, I promise you, where you guys have a host of unsolvable problems, and I will give you one army of super ghosts to solve half of them.

Okay, I'm going to put that on a card.

Write it down.

Write it down somewhere and make him sign it.

We are an army of super ghosts.

Wait, was that actually

spoilers?

In all fairness, I make that joke a lot.

And I think this was the first one where I was like, this was the first one in which we did not watch that.

I don't think I get that.

Something true about being a dad is that there's something that you bring.

A kindness you pay to people in emotional moments in your youth that you learn as you become a more empathetic person is to mirror emotions.

We've all had that moment where a friend is upset and you get a little bit upset to be upset with them.

They're like, someone did this fucked-up thing, and you're like, that's fucked up.

Like, you get mad to be mad with them, so they're not alone in their anger.

And looking at that grandmother Wren scene, there is a part that I have, even having a very, very itty-bitty child that is

you actually have to switch that part of your mind of like when you are in a parental role, you cannot mirror the emotional turmoil of a child back to them because you're actually supposed to be the sandbox in which that emotional life is lived.

And it's really interesting because

it's a transition.

You go from being like, when I'm in deep community with people, I'm mirroring their emotions back to them to make them feel heard and seen.

But now a baby is freaking the fuck out about a diaper a bottle whatever and i can't be like it is a disaster you're absolutely right

The metric has changed for what it takes to make someone feel safe with their emotions.

When you are with someone you consider a peer or like you're like, I'm making it safe by saying like this emotion is safe and I will feel it with you versus someone that needs to to know, like a baby, that needs to know that, like, I'm protecting you from further damage while you like move through this and I'll help you back.

I will say, have you ever cried back at a baby?

It does work.

It's so funny and it works.

It does work.

It works.

They will

stop.

They will stop and just be like, what the fuck are you doing?

Yeah.

Yeah.

You can

have a small child

by giving them your energy back to him.

Yes.

Yeah.

It is really.

Bedrooms are funny.

That's the best thing, too, especially like I have a young nephew.

And, oh, hold on.

Erica has just handed me a little card that says one ghost army, and there is a signature list.

Oh, a shiny.

I get it in writing.

Yes, let's go.

Yes, yes, very good.

We just give this to you at some point in the campaign, and you just make them appear, right?

A million percent.

This is truly frightening.

Why am I doing this?

I love it.

But it is beautiful.

Oh, no.

Where did little.

I'm just holding the...

The world's made of gasoline and I'm holding a match, Lee Mulligan.

Yeah.

Ghost Army coming up.

Ghost Army.

But,

yeah, it's a very real.

Taking a picture of it.

Yeah, put that in the slack.

You get it.

Like moody's.

But the

yeah, the reflecting the emotions back thing is pretty useful.

So with Grandmother Wren in that, in that moment, I love that.

I feel like the moments moments that really stick out to me, there's so many.

But yeah, that moment from Ame in the flashback to Grandmother Wren, the moment of Ursulans in the Kasov collection.

Oh, God.

So good.

So, so, so intense.

And then Suvi's Bring Them to Me.

Are these moments of like ultimate peak, like these strong, strong, strong, difficult emotions?

You guys are the fucking best.

It's great.

Um, what was your least favorite?

My least favorite moment.

Well, okay, those are my favorite.

I think, as players, each of you punctuated this chapter with so many incredible moments.

Those three are the ones that jump to the top of my head at first of like a depth of profound performance, like like Suvi's monologue about like they never listen, and Ursulan just being like, I'm actually saying shut up, which is just like so intense.

That was so good.

Ursulan's so chill.

Yeah, yeah, when he says shut up, it means so much more.

When someone who's never cross, who's never like upset

gets upset, it is fucking freaky.

It's frightening.

But in terms of favorite moments, I actually do have to.

I do have one.

And it's a just, it's,

for a thing that had a lot of seriousness and a lot of stakes, especially as like the as things rant up towards the end.

Bathroom full of sausages.

Just drunk, drunk Ahmed and Suvi.

Like, you're so pretty.

You're so good.

You're so pretty.

Oh, my God.

Ursula with the fox talking about different herbs in the sausages.

And the fox simulating sound.

Like, put your mouth on my butt.

I'm about to not want to do this anymore.

Yeah, I say that now.

That's a bad thing I think at times

that he was describing.

Yeah.

That is a little, I'm like, shut up, Abri.

You've got to keep your head in the game holding.

The whole thing is that the fox with the intrusive thoughts win.

Yeah.

Yes.

She's all intrusive.

Perfect.

With that and then the little, the little

ice fairy with no asshole.

None at all.

None at all.

No genitals.

And like, yeah, I just, that moment felt both so funny and heightened and also so real because I have been in the club bathroom being like oh you're so beautiful you're so beautiful oh my god i love you i think all the time about like making a party and doing it like running a dnd game of just a group of adventurers that are girls that met in a club bathroom yes and that's like how they feel

because i would kill or die for any girl i like i've met in the bathroom that feels away

crying and you did your like birthday makeup yeah which is a whole other thing and yeah and that's the thing too is that you know, the rules the code says that if you are asked for lip gloss or powder or whatever, or or like a zip-up in the back, you give that exactly.

Like, I know it took you 45 minutes to do that cut crease makeup, and some boy is making you cry.

I'm gonna snap his neck.

Where is he?

Yeah, it's just such a fun energy.

It's so, it's so cute because I feel like that is the kind of like we're so deep in this world at this point that that kind of moment where

it's my favorite thing to do when comedy mixes with drama in a way that neither negates the other.

Like, you look like going, if you look at Star Wars, like that message from Princess Leia could have started playing by accident while someone was in the bathroom.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, and

you would be observing it and go, this is of incredible galactic significance, and my dick is out.

And both would be true at the same time.

So, to me, that's playing that scene of there's insane comedy.

It's like it's Suvi's name cloak day, a love interest is outside, Ursulan is here, these fairies, they're in the citadel.

How did they get there?

They're talking about some shit that really fucking matters, but they're silly.

Ahme's drunk.

This is a bad time for this.

It was like,

I just love the, I sometimes talk about like the Casablanca thing of like that movie has every tone in it.

Like it's a comedy, it's a romance, it's a drama, it's espionage, it's like all of it, right?

Perfect.

And so moments that get to moments that get to be 100% comedic and 100% dramatic, and both tracks are running at the same time, you're like mashing them up.

Yeah.

I love that.

And also, I, yeah, the fallout of that of like Suvi going after Silver and Ahmed just like eating the cure wounds cake.

Yeah.

Lagritis like sent specifically to prevent like the exact thing that was happening of the drunkenness but also uh the quote I have from uh

from this it's like I shall bear this the news hither that the grove of the

the well is no longer safe and that the witch of the world's heart hides by the side of the wizard sky in a bathroom covered in sausages

there it is there it is that's that is that's my tone that's the like yeah that's my that's the key I want to be in you know there's something so funny.

Like, we've talked about it before, like, in improv when someone just calls out what's happening.

And you're like, don't just say what's happening because it's, it makes me feel stupid as shit.

But yeah, that is what's happening.

That's what we said.

That's what we, that's what we said.

It's the, it's the easiest slam dunk laugh line in the world to just say what's happening.

Yeah.

It's, and it's always helpful.

It's always actually helpful to

be like, so just as a, just to clarify, we are all in the bathroom.

Like, it's always helpful, right?

Yeah, I think that is my,

that is like the perfect sort of encapsulation.

That scene is a perfect encapsulation of this arc of like, well, it's all happening and we have our pants down.

And I love just Ursula being outside, being, being an absolute homie, being like, sorry, you can't go in.

People are having sex.

You know, you just, you say what comes to your mind and what you know people won't intrude on.

You say people are having sex in there.

Nobody's going in there.

That one guy was like, I recognize that fox's voice.

I've got to leave.

The fox participating was not what I expected.

So funny.

I can't blame for that.

He wanted to help.

He just likes helping.

It's the most helpful.

I actually have, I'd love to combine these next two questions because I don't think they're related

by the askers, but I kind of actually relate them.

The first question is from Chase Curtin.

Thank you, Chase.

Thank you, Chase.

Thank you, Chase.

Which is, is it difficult playing playing characters with positions of power in the world

at such low levels?

And I actually think that kind of combines with another question, which I think is interesting, which is from

Charles Hart, which is,

while DD is typically a combat-focused game, ARC2 had basically no combat.

Was this an intentional choice?

How do you all feel about a game with less combat?

And I actually see these concepts as being related.

I'm not sure if everyone agrees with that off the bat, but I think the idea of the parts of this game that challenge

assumed conventions of tabletop.

You will have world power when you have character power.

And that character power will be gained through combat and combat will be plentiful, right?

These are all sort of assumptions baked into, I would say, the culture of the game and not the mechanics of the game.

You don't have to fight all the time in the rules of 5e, but it's assumed culturally, even sometimes like not in the text, but in the miasma surrounding the text.

There's just sort of an idea that you will be fighting all the time and that as you level up, you will have a higher station in the world, but it's not explicit.

How do you guys feel about that?

My minor pushback on that is like, I think there is something inside the skill checks, that the fact that like a lot of you're leveling up will increase your ability to have your way

even like in conversation.

Like there's a little bit of that too.

But that also comes down to the dice and some of us have had a more fraught experience with efficacy because of how they roll.

We're not going to name names, but generally speaking, I do agree and I'm going to make the rest of my point later, but I want to hear whatever Erica was about to say.

No, no, no.

I see Lou.

No, no, I was just thinking about the efficacy of some of the, you know, our abilities to roll.

And, you know, for, you know, it's, some of us are rolling 31s and are just, you know, we're not going to name names, but we don't have to, you know, we're all the same level, but some of us roll thirty-on's.

And in all fairness, I didn't know we were capable of getting a 31, like on a thing this early.

Well, and if you have some questions about that, if your sister hung out in the place that you're hanging out, kind of like years before and left a residual magic around, I would argue that all of my family has hung out in this place that I am at.

And I damn, and nobody

shit residual magic?

No,

no.

No.

Best roll is when I call the cops.

And that's

interesting.

That's interesting.

That's so funny to me because nobody has called the cops with more self-awareness and import.

Called their cops to be risky.

Yeah, we were talking about the colours.

You're not just cops.

I called the cops.

I called my cops to do a cop crime for me.

Like if you have a house in Beverly Hills and you call the cops, you know that this is an entire force that has been created to benefit my interests.

Yes.

Specifically, I think about the time that,

the crackdowns and Mr.

Rockabonte's beautiful face got hurt.

But like the gang goes up to an Imperial Guard and says, like, hey, what's going on?

We're concerned.

And he's like, it's okay.

You don't have to worry.

Like, basically, his answer was...

created to put Suvi at ease.

Pat, Pat, little wizard, you're fine and you're going to be safe.

Yeah.

And it's like,

good.

Thank you.

That's what I wanted to know.

Yay.

I've been coddled.

It was so good.

Just like, truly, your ability throughout this entire arc to make the difficult decisions, the decisions that you would never make in a normal game, but that you would make in a story you're trying to tell

is like

with Hannah, like her childhood friend, who's an artist,

who it's Abria.

Abria didn't know how bad Hannah's Hannah's life was going to be until we all walked into that room and I went, well, Suvi also gets to not be aware because I'm like, this is one of my best friends.

And it's going to be, hey, Brendan, how bad is this?

Yeah.

Hey, Brendan, how fucking bad is this?

It's also funny to see the

reaction.

I don't know how I feel about the reaction as someone whose parents, like, I describe it being really hot and bad in there, but it's weird.

You said she was stuck.

Exactly.

Let's station

a life and a friendship she can't leave.

i did say that

i did i did say that but the point is but the point is that hana and gult look at their life and it's one of those things where where it's always hard to judge that thing of like this is a hard fucking job and they are laboring and they have to penny pinch and be aware of the budget they've been given by the wizards and shit is stressful and it's hot in here and they don't get to make a a lot of calls.

But also, if you were to talk to Gult and Hana, they would be like, well, it's good to have work because we know people that are doing worse than we're doing.

And so, you know what I'm saying?

It's literally, which is how that goes, right?

It's very funny because

I've seen some people empathize with Hana and Galt in that moment, being like, fuck, like I'm trapped in a life and a friendship that I can't get out of.

And I empathize with that.

And life is fucking hard.

And that's what it is.

It's the difference between hard and bad.

Because I'll see some people,

I'll see it.

Like, you know, it's like, on the one hand, if you see someone say, like, I empathize with Hana and Galt, that is a hard fucking life.

And there is no room for error in that hot little mill.

And I'm so worried for them.

And I go, you got it.

And then I saw some people try to post the same as that where they were like, man, if I had to go to work every day, I'd kill myself.

You'd go like, whoa, oh, you didn't get it.

Or like, you know, like, that's not what I'm, that's not what I'm looking for.

It's

there is something really fun inside the like head cannon and the things we've talked about.

Like, oh man, Hannah exit the sort of track that like both Hanna and Suvi were on.

And now Suvi gets to run around and be like, Let's go get some chowder.

I have to do some like nerd shit for a couple hours, and then everything's on my daddy's tab.

And then you meet Hannah and you're like, man, when you get off the train a little early, it gets difficult.

Yeah.

Well, but specifically the fact that because you and Brennan had come up with the character backstory of Suvi, the hair, the, you know, you and Hannah, Hannah had had

laid around in the area.

Yeah, the Aerith fuck up.

The Aerith fuck up.

Yeah.

And then you were like, I, you know, yeah, this is one of my best friends.

And then you, just like Suvi, walked into that mill and was like, hey, girl, what's up?

Yeah.

I'm sorry.

I have the wrong energy.

Right, the completely wrong energy.

And then, like, watching you like dig deeper into that, I was like, I could could never double down.

That's incredible.

Double down.

Double down.

Double down.

Yeah.

I was going to go back to the original question.

Oh, okay.

Sure.

You know, hey, if we're going to shout out Curtis and Charles, Charles Hart, is that correct?

Or

this is from Charles A.

Curtis?

Curtis Curtis.

Chase Curtin.

That's it.

Chase and Charles.

I think a lot, kind of in reference to what you were speaking on, Brennan, about like Ame's level up.

And I think there's something to it of like, I feel like a lot of in built-in DD, like leveling up is very much like gaining muscle.

It's a lot of like, like,

go out there, get hurt, still standing, still strong, go out, get hurt again, still standing, still strong.

And I think there's something really

kind of in line with the way that we're telling this story that is like, Ahme levels up when Ahme gets to go home and think for for a second.

And in that, like, the depth of understanding increases.

And it's not about, like, the experience that is, that she is growing from is not one in which, like, she came out the other side even when,

like, death was at her doorstep, but one in which she just like, quite literally had more experience and then had space to kind of download that experience and was able to find new understanding and power through it.

And I think that that is kind of the mashup between this, like the lack of combat, but also being these low-level characters is like, well, yeah, the growth is not happening because we go out and survive.

It's because we go out and live.

And by living and experiencing, we grow.

And like,

that is the way we are living in these like power positions.

What our positions of power give us is access and the ability to live.

And that living bolsters us.

So I don't know.

I think we're the way in which we are engaging.

Oh, thank you.

The way in which we're engaging with experience, I think is really cool and

kind of, I think, like you're saying, within the like schema of D and D, but just not how it's usually engaged with.

So

we have had like truly like until the we hours conversations about the mechanics of games and telling stories and how our world, the real world, works.

And I could talk for days about this and about how I feel like everybody at this table specifically has leveraged the mechanics of systems, multiple systems, because, like, you know, as I've said before, I think Abria and I have played more non-DD tabletop games than we have played DD.

And that is even with my sort of like years of experience before this with DD, because like,

you know, it's,

we,

yes, I think there's the argument a lot of people make in that D and D is specced for combat.

And I would like to push back on that a little bit by saying that, yes,

sort of the idea of power and like higher levels gain with it a general

incentive and prowess in combat.

However, at the end of the day, I maintain that D and D is one of the best physics engines that we have for world building.

It's like, oh, there are different abilities and skills and items and things, and everything has a number attached to it.

And so you can tell your story and you can adjust it accordingly, according to these numbers, both letting your story inform the numbers of like, for instance, us deciding to level us up when we hit certain milestones or when we, as Lou was saying, go out and live and learn.

And we let, especially, you know, in our,

in the children's campaign, which was our very fancy session zero, we let the numbers that we were getting and our experiences in the world inform each other in how we built our characters and the story that we ended up telling.

Because I think there were aspects of AME that we said, that I definitely came up with in the character brainstorming part of this this that did not bear out when we started rolling and like speccing specifically.

Because like, you know, if you think about it, if we are D ⁇ D characters, like if we start like working out, if I started working out more in real life, my strength score absolutely went up in real life, right?

I learned different skills.

I put more points into those skills.

And I think that there is a relationship between the Dungeons ⁇ Dragons mechanics and

how we are telling this story specifically.

I love, like, in Bros End, for instance, the,

you know, that other, that...

that

predisposition towards violence that we explored in the system.

But in this one, we are showing the...

the sort of versatility of this because at the end of the day, I don't think any of us have a specific brand loyal.

We don't have a specific brand loyalty, but this is kind of the way that we are leveraging.

We are leveraging mechanics in this game to fit our story.

We are making it work for us.

And I think too, the idea of making it work for us.

And there's a lot of conversations that people much smarter than myself have about the relationship of mechanics to the table, right?

Tabletop is this incredible art form.

And there's, again, it's people like Emily Friedman and other amazing people.

Shout out to Dr.

Friedman

who

talk about this exact thing about the relationship between mechanics and storytelling, right?

I think that the only thing I can offer as someone who maybe is not as academic as other people, but certainly plays games a lot and plays them for story

is sometimes when people will say something like, DD is a combat-oriented game.

Like, DD is a combat-oriented game.

It's not for storytelling.

It's for combat.

The rules are all about combat.

I my reaction to that would be that that observation, and this is a little bit dismissive, and I apologize, but it would sort of be like looking at a stove and being like, This has nothing to do with food.

You can't eat metal.

Like, this is not like clearly, this contraption is just for moving gas around and having a clock on it.

If it was about food, there'd be some food here.

Instead, all of the machinery is just about creating heat either in this cavity or this other place.

But what you should get is a machine that actually is made of food or has food in it, or there's some food.

And the reaction I would have to that observation is: I'm going to bring the food.

The food is my favorite part.

I'm the food machine.

I go to the grocery store and get food, and I cook it on this stove.

So, some of the things that people will say, these mechanics are destiny.

Like, because DD has so many combat mechanics, you are destined to tell combat stories.

I fundamentally disagree.

Combat is the part I'm the least interested in simulating through improvisational storytelling rules.

So I need a game to do that for me while I take care of emotions, relationships, character progression, because that shit is intuitive and I understand it well.

I don't intuitively understand how an arrow

moves through fictional airspace.

Yeah, I think too also that people think a lot about like

when they play DD.

Yeah, it's I think what the thing that you bring, the food that you bring, is consequences.

And this is something we discussed a lot because in a violent world, a world that is predisposed to violence and where violence can solve a lot of things, there have to be consequences.

Otherwise, it is just kind of a free-for-all and can be just a combat-driven game.

And also, if you want that to be your game, that's great.

You have to decide what system is right for you and what kind of story is right for you.

But I will say, it's so easy for me to get a gun in real life.

So easy.

Like, I can go out right now and I don't even know.

I don't even know if we have a waiting period.

Look, do we have a waiting period?

You guys have to know.

Erica is waving a gun around in the studio right now.

I could shoot somebody right now.

Also, like, I can, like, most people in the world that I have a problem with, I could definitely take in one-on-one combat or at least like get them while they're asleep.

It's so easy.

It's so easy.

That's what Hobbes was writing about.

However, right?

However, there are consequences to my actions.

And that is the same for D and D.

And so I can choose to do the thing that is sort of easy to do to solve my problems, but there will be consequences.

I will say, like, I agree.

100%,

but I do understand that, like, if you are talking about, like, I'm here to make a meal and what I have is a stove, I think there is something inside the like, and that is a temptation to make hot food for this meal.

So, I think that there is something inside of the, like, I'm here with the stove.

Well, I got to cook something with the stove.

So, I do think that, like, the actual thing that is fun to wrestle with when we talk about D and D specifically is the constant temptation as you level up to

become more and more of a hammer and see everything as a nail.

Because the things that you're getting, those early cues for what you can do, are

the things that you're like, yeah, I don't want to have to make up how effective you are at killing people.

So here's a bunch of like simulation, like mechanics to simulate that.

But if that's the first thing I'm looking at every time I get a little stronger in the world, I'm going to get

cued or I'm going to feel a little

pressure to do there's there's absolutely a point in D ⁇ D where you can jump out of an airplane and survive.

Yeah.

And monks can just not die from falling.

And it's hard when you recognize that to go like, how do I not factor that into my decision making?

Oh, of course.

Yeah.

There's a lot of things that are influenced by the mechanics.

And specifically one of the things, like, if I were going to, to me, I don't think I would ever...

The things that I miss would be like, oh, I wish there were more spells oriented towards social interaction.

Or I wish there were more opportunities for skills to da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

But I don't go to a place where I want a game to start providing storytelling decisions.

Yeah,

that's the big one that we always talk about.

And for a lot of systems, they are geared towards story, as we say, which is fantastic.

And like they might be right for you.

But for those of us who, like, we have in our brain this story, well, we don't have in our brain the story that we want to tell, but we want to improvise things too.

And we don't want story proscribed to us.

What's happening in the studio right now?

What's happening in the studio right now?

Nothing's happening in the studio right now.

We'll take it to the Lord in Prayer.

Don't you worry about me, Brindley.

We're going to cause a ruckus.

Is that what we're saying?

Sometimes, you know,

listen, we've said this on multiple other things, too.

The only, yeah, the thing is, it's again, like, the machine analogy of whether it's a stove or a bicycle or whatever it is, it's just the thing that I, it depends on what you're bringing to it.

Yeah, there are lots of people who actually

want the experience of a machine or mechanism to help them tell a story, to literally be like, I would actually love if there was part of this machine that provided some food for me.

I don't know necessarily what I want to eat tonight.

So something that gives me a selection would be great.

I think for me, that's not the experience I'm looking for.

And it's a certain degree of when people pitch it to me, this is just the analogy I want to use.

If someone were to be like, you know, if I'm like, oh, I love my bicycle.

I ride around on it and it does the work of walking, which is hard for me.

Someone would be like, you know, instead of a bicycle, I have a machine that also picks where you go.

And I would be like, well, that's not the part I have.

Yeah.

Or to go back to the stove analogy, it's like this stove comes with a bunch of food.

It's like, well, I don't, I don't want that food.

I want to, I want to make my own food.

I'm trying to be a chef.

I'm trying, I'm trying to make a specific kind of meal, you know, like

a bunch of pre-made meal kits and stuff, which actually, in real life, I go for.

I love having my little pre-made meals.

But when it comes to storytelling, yeah, I think we want as much of a sort of physics simulator in some ways as we can and then choose what we do with it.

But that is definitely,

I don't know, I just love that there is a diversity of options available and it can like provide you the tools you need for the story that you want to tell.

And in terms of you guys being low level and having important world positions, like the witch of the world's heart and the archmage apprentice,

I think that's a well-taken thing about like the skill check thing that if you are in charge, you should have high skill checks.

And the should is really critical there because there's a lot of institutions that have people at the top that don't have great skill checks.

Dog, truly.

Like I think about that all the time.

I'm like, oh yeah, she's the Archmage Apprentice, but she's like a level two

wizard and her mom's here and her mom tells her what to do all the time.

Like I was just like, yeah, whatever.

Kamala Harris can't fight her way out of a wet paper bag.

Like we're not worried about that part.

Like, yeah.

She's not good at punches yet and that's not the point like right kamala harris just doing a

just swinging yeah at a ribbon cutting somewhere in dc

oh my god things would have been so much better

Oh my god.

Yeah, I do think about it.

And it is true to life in that like oftentimes larger than life things happen to you.

yeah, or you move through the world in such a way where you have a lot of like, truly, every single person has so much responsibility in life, like, they have the power of life and death, whether it's over themselves or people around them, or a whole company of people, or something.

But it's you have to take what you have.

And how do you leverage that?

Like, what are your club ways of problem-solving that aren't

buying a gun, I guess?

Yeah, to continue that horrifying analysis.

You have to keep doing it.

Hey, put it away.

Listen, now I'm sensitized to it.

See, this is good.

Trigger discipline.

My hand, my finger is not on the trigger.

You got to keep it not on the trigger.

I have a question.

I never pointed at anything that you don't want.

Sorry, this is horrible.

I do not own a gun.

I have a question, and it's very silly.

So you have to answer it, and you don't get to explain it.

And it's from the Wizard Salacious.

What spell would make the most fuckable Tamori?

Oh, this is like a Vaporeon thing.

Yeah, what?

What?

What are you about to say about my favorite Pokemon, Vaporeon?

What the fuck are you guys?

Don't fucking

say, Bria asked.

So Bria asked, do not onceler us again, I swear to God.

Do not fucking onceler us again.

I do ask you what you mean.

You can't make it a thing that if I just say things I liked from the early 2000s, you're going to start screaming at me that there's a small portion of the internet that wants to put things in those things holes.

Yeah, it's just a small portion.

It's not a small portion.

It's not a small.

It's not small.

But here's the thing is you can't fault Lou for this moment because I swear to God, every time we do this fucking podcast, it's like, it's like, oh, like, so the question we got is like, who's the most, who's the most buxom?

Like, B, B, W.

And someone's like, oh, this is the thing about Yertle the Turtle, right?

And I have to go, what?

How did you connect the first thing?

We've done it.

We've made them uncomfortable.

Don't fucking hi-fi.

Don't fucking hi-fi.

My gun hi-fi for Erica's gun.

Oh,

that's so good.

Reka,

friend of the pod, Reka Shunker,

when we were working on Slack at College Humor back in the day,

had a reaction image, which was Yoshi with a really big butt.

Yeah, yeah.

Now you're so...

She supposed to be a little bit more.

She supposed to.

Yeah.

She posts it on Instagram all the time.

See, She'll be like, Happy Valentine's Day.

Yeah.

Here's Yoshi with a donk.

Yeah.

Yoshi would have a Chloe game.

No, wait.

As we all know.

What?

Yeah.

Don't fucking do this to Yoshi.

All right.

Now, wait, why did you say Vaporeon when

Vaporeon's like the most,

whatever.

We're going to make it really nice.

Vaporeon is the what?

It's the mermaid.

You know how like mermaids, you're like, oh, I'm a sailor.

I would see a mermaid.

I would make sweet love to a mermaid.

A Vaporeon is a mermaid of Pokemon.

Was that a neutral way to put that?

There's got to be more fuckable Pokemon.

Okay, well, but here's the thing is.

Bellsprout, without a doubt, right?

Bellsprout is mostly mouth.

So, but here's the thing is that Vaporeon.

I've thought about this so much.

Bell Sprout and its many forms are obviously.

Here's the thing, though, is Bell Sprout is a small Pokemon.

You're looking for a weepin' bell, probably depending on your size.

A Bell Sprout is

approximately flashlight-sized.

I think the point stands.

Yeah.

What's the most

important thing?

What's the most?

I feel like I'm just

racking my brain for the most human Pokemon, and I keep coming back to Mr.

Mime.

Well, it's not.

Okay, listen,

that's just too.

The idea that it's like, oh, come on, Mr.

Mime could jerk you off.

Mr.

Mime and Candlelight just like caressing its face.

Is it a he?

I don't know.

Mr.

Mime.

I'm not going to gender Mr.

Mime.

Aren't they all named Mr.

Mime?

Yeah, but also, also.

That's right.

You're a bad person.

You're a bad person.

And you're a bad person.

Specifically, the Mr.

Mime that was with Ash's mom absolutely has been taking care of her ever since.

How did I get

this?

So you joined us by the fireside.

You said, How did we do it?

You did this.

You did it.

Bell Sprout got Mr.

Mime pregnant, and now.

Join us over on AO3 for the thick about how that happened.

Okay, but the question is,

Belle would make the most fuckable tomorrow.

Okay, I would say it depends on what you are into, because while people have made.

Oh, okay, yeah.

Keep going.

Nailed it.

No, no, no.

While people have made compelling arguments for Vaporeon as the Pokemon, you know, what with the, you know,

hydration and the,

it's about size and hydration and the acid armor.

So, you know,

it can be, you know, manhandled, I guess.

And then also, you know, the different

moves that it has.

You're dragging us back to the fucking Pokemon.

No, but I'm saying, like, it's like, yes, that's all well and good, but, like, I don't want, like, just

buy a flashlight, right?

Yeah, I know.

Right?

So I think fucking Vaporeon?

Yes.

Okay, yeah.

I'll be a little bit more.

I'll say a spell to this.

We'll say a spell.

I feel like it would also depend.

Like, like,

would it be like a special thing?

You're not allowed to explain.

You're not allowed to explain.

You just have to decide.

Entangle?

Cloud of daggers.

Nice.

Brendan, bring us on.

All about the mangles.

Power word kill.

But like, let's kill.

The French call it Le Petit Mars.

Oh, there it is.

I actually, maybe.

Are you looking at a spell list?

Yeah.

Yeah, I'm looking at the SRD, baby.

That's not fair.

I'm looking at the SRD.

I had to do that from like my heart.

Power word kill and true resurrection.

Maybe wish?

I mean, wish feels like the

obvious one.

And True Resurrection, like, that's really just handling a refractory period problem.

But, like, like,

I don't know.

Limb and Tiny Hut.

Ooh, I like that one.

Oh, okay.

Wait, Mage Hand.

Mage Hand.

That's Mr.

Callum.

Callum Callum.

You want to fuck Mr.

Callum?

I want absolutely.

Let me be clear.

Mr.

Callum.

Callum.

Let me be so clear.

Would and you get like baked goods after.

Are you fucking kidding me?

Just sitting in bed, covered in croissant flakes.

Hold on, hold on, hold on.

Lore question.

We're doing stuff for the game.

Has anyone ever tried to have a relationship with a Mr.

Callum in the Citadel?

There are parts of the world building that need to remain in the Pandora's box of what remains unseen and unsaid.

No, I want to know.

Well, we're about to do the world building talk back, so we'll make him answer it on that.

Yeah, hey, so join us by the fireside

if you want to know if anyone's tried to date Mr.

Callum.

Hey, wizard,

Wizard Slappy.

I got to talk to you.

You know that we installed a recording stone in the bakery.

Oh, no.

Oh, no.

Oh, the wizard surveillance state really put one over on us, I guess.

Pan Opticon.

Taylor, where are we at, Tom Wise?

You're at an hour 12.

Amazing.

Yeah, great.

Okay.

Well, on other things.

We did plenty of the things.

And also Vaporio.

No!

Well, if you are looking for more of this kind of deep,

important discussion, please join us over at The Fireside.

For just $5 a month on our Patreon, you get access to this and other bits, such as Maybe Brennan Had a Child.

Also,

The Witch Class.

The Witch Class, yes, yes, yes.

Which is

speaking of mechanics and world building and social spells uh yeah i wanted something that uh this specific physics engine did not have which was uh a little witch and brennan and uh maisie uh uh

maisie

vasilak uh

yeah brandis

uh all

uh

the team on the witch class we had we had brandon stoddard maisie vasilak hannah rose uh with art by Tucker Donovan, and we had art Tucker Donovan, and of course, the Ahmed portrait by Lorena Lammer, and the graphic design by Ruby Lavin.

Yeah, it's also Brennan, because Brennan never says himself, he says himself.

He's on the team too.

Yeah, you're on the team.

I helped.

Yeah.

So

truly, thank you so much to everybody for listening to this and for joining us here by our

wide open campfire fireside.

Campfire fireside.

Oh.

I'm Erica Isha E, and I'm here with Abria Iyengar.

Ahoohoo, crackle, crackle.

Hey, Dandelion.

The gift for Ahme was tea.

Subi got Ame some tea for when she woke up.

Brennan Lee Mulligan.

Ahoohoo, crackle, crackle.

And

yeah, I guess Mr.

Mime.

And the elusive Lou Wilson.

Ohoohoo, crackle, crackle.

I'm never bringing up anything that existed between the year 2000 and the year 2009, I feel.

I feel like after 2010, we're safe.

But 2000 to 2009 just feels like a minefield at this point.

Ask us about our sonic OCs.

The ops are fraught.

And Knuckles is bad.

Nuck up your book.

All right, everybody.

Thank you so much.

We will see you next time here on the fireside.

Vaporeon, really, really, discussions have been.

It also has four legs, which makes me feel weird about it.

Yep.

Great liking.

I mean, that is a cat.