The Black Key | Land of Eem Fantasy Actual Play S05EP13

Skeletons clatter from hidden doors, a cackling voice turns the ceiling into falling stone, and the party’s survival plan proves slipperier than the puzzle itself. Between missed swings and miracle saves, Hooch unlocks the true power of the beetle-carapace shield while Brendo weaponizes music to shove back an armored skeletal brute. When two bounty hunters crash the scene, social abilities steal the spotlight—Famous and Fibbing flip enemies into confused allies long enough to corner the real threat.

The payoff is weird and wonderful. One perfect word solves the riddle, halting the cave-in and revealing a bag of oddities: a tuning fork with room-fixing vibes and a single black key that feels ominous and important. Spat back into the swamp, the party fast-travels to Mushmash—its toadstool huts glowing, libraries fed by spores—and finally gets a breather. Downtime delivers humility and laughs: underwhelming busking, a disastrous drake research attempt, and a lead that matters—the famed Hinterlander, a hunter stalking the black drake Putrefex.

The road ahead sharpens into a real choice: prep smart or charge the drake. We cap the session with candid GM talk on designing puzzles with timers, doors that matter, and keeping momentum when a riddle stalls—practical wisdom wrapped in comedy and peril. If you love tabletop RPG podcasts with improvised encounters, character-centric loot, and a clean hook into the next arc, this episode delivers.

Transcript

Welcome To The Land Of Eem Stream

SPEAKER_04 0:40

Hey guys.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Hi. Happy Saturday.

SPEAKER_04 0:44

Hello, hello. Welcome to the EM stream. Where we're going to stream some Eam.

SPEAKER_03 0:52

On today's EM stream, Ben and James are just going to watch as I solo quest myself. I'm just going to GM everything. We're going to read everything. They're just going to give highlights. That's all that's going to happen.

SPEAKER_04 1:04

Oh wow. I can't believe he's he just did that. That's uh it's a bold strategy, Cotton.

Loot Recap And Wuzzle The Caterpillar

SPEAKER_03 1:11

Darn shooting cotton. Wow. Yes. Meet me to it. Excellent. Um yeah, so welcome everybody. We're going to play some Land of Eam. Um, it's a uh tabletop role-playing game inspired by the book series Rickety Stitch and the Gelatinous Goo. You can check out Lando Eam at landoveeam.com and download the beta rules for free for a limited time. And uh, if you're already play, check out our Discord and uh you can find uh groups and GMs and oh be a GM. You know, it's uh it's pretty classy. Be the GM you want to see in the Land of Eam. Yes. Yes, true.

SPEAKER_04 1:54

You know GMs are the bottleneck of the TTRPG world. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 1:58

So uh so we're putting together a Land of Eam GM school that will be in the first professor's uh George Higgins, in which case he will uh GM himself in a series of uh 26 hour videos. It's true, but I will only teach you how to GM yourself, which is problematic. I won't actually teach you how to GM anyone else. I'm not that kind of GM. I'm not that kind of GM. Cool. All right, guys.

SPEAKER_04 2:26

Uh I'm excited. All right, good stream. Kind of recap what happened. I mean, you've been in a random dungeon for like 48 hours.

SPEAKER_03 2:35

Um yeah, but we got a buttload of Ramgore meat.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

It's true, and loot, we got a lot of loot, we got some crazy loot, got a lot of loot golden.

SPEAKER_04 2:46

Um what what was some of the stuff that you got last time?

SPEAKER_03 2:52

Um with a flourish, uh I kind of like spin around and show off my cow of Korbishi. Which does I don't tell you what it does. No, uh it allows me to transform into formless vapor for one hour. I gain some defense and sneak when in vapor form, but I can't attack or manipulate objects unless now this is a relic item, uh, unless I spent XP to uh kind of power up the relic item, which I did, because that's the only thing I'll spend XP on from now on. Um, meaning twice per session I can use it, and uh the wearer can manipulate objects in vapor form, which is amazing. So I'm just gonna go into vapor form and just pants people constantly. It's just gonna be used for pranks, nothing practical.

SPEAKER_04 3:41

Excellent stuff. Um, you know, one thing that I remember, George, is that Brendo is wounded. I don't know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_03 3:50

Oh, I did not remember that.

SPEAKER_04 3:52

I don't think you uh factored that in last time.

SPEAKER_03 3:54

No, so I you know, between quests he healed, he's got avian uh healing powers. He's got avian syndrome. So let's we'll double wound this time to make up for last session.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

No, you just need to no. I I I will try.

SPEAKER_04 4:21

So yeah, you guys spent all your keys to get this loot. I'm not sure what you're at now. Are you back to zero, or did you gain any?

SPEAKER_03 4:29

No, let me see one. I wrote it down somewhere in all the rolling keys two. We have two keys. Oh, we have two keys. Oh, that's right. That's right. Okay, maybe we rolled the 12 or something, or something, something, something, something. So we need four more, two more. Three three more. Somewhere in there. One, two, five.

SPEAKER_02 4:57

Holy hell I'm talking.

SPEAKER_04 5:01

Yeah, I I think you guys may have rested at the end. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 5:05

Yeah, we got the the Ramgore meat, and I think that was just like a good reason to rest. Yeah, we were cooking Ramgore meat. Now you're cooking with Ramgor?

SPEAKER_04 5:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:15

Delicious.

SPEAKER_04 5:15

Oh, yeah, and you met you met a caterpillar.

SPEAKER_03 5:18

Yeah, yeah. His name is Wuggle. Wuzzle. Wuzzle. Yeah. He dropped a killer rat for us. And we opted not to eat it because it was disgusting. Yeah. And Wuzzle just thinks we're idiots who still can't hunt for ourselves, and uh will continue to bring us random food. Wuzzle is also not super far off. But um I'm eager to tackle the rest of this dungeon today. I can't wait to see what what peril and adventure is in store for the adventures of uh uh hooch and Brendo. Hooch Brendo. I also want the Beatleshield badly to see what it does. The big bad beetle shield. Big bad beetle. It's a great show. It's good to have all right.

SPEAKER_04 6:12

Um, you guys encounter the ghost of Elvis or something?

SPEAKER_02 6:16

Uh or something, yeah. Yes, it's a big bad beetle.

SPEAKER_03 6:22

Big bad it's a reference to big bad robots. It's like these kids go into a haunted mansion with like Elvis and a mummy, like Elvis Jaleno. It's like ghost Jalen O and uh they become Beetle Robots. I never understood it, Ben, but I I kind of like it the most now.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

I mean, like it's my favorite in that type of show.

SPEAKER_03 6:46

It's really yeah, and 88 episodes, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

88 episodes, wow, yeah. That's wild.

SPEAKER_03 6:57

Go figure. Weird, wild stuff. Oh, yeah. It's the guy is named Flabber, the the Jay Leno ghost. Big bad beetle works, yeah. All right, we're getting off topic. Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 7:09

Yes, sorry, sorry. Roll the first D12, George. Just kick it off.

The Four-Door Riddle Room Appears

SPEAKER_03 7:15

I have too many tabs open now, and most of them are big bad beetle works really. It's an 11. I'm using an early quest point, and we're getting two keys. Whoa. No, unconventional. Unconventional, but I'll I'll allow it.

SPEAKER_04 7:31

Yeah. All right. Uh that puts you at four keys. You guys gonna blow through this? Uh how do you find these keys, Brendo?

SPEAKER_03 7:40

Um so after we rest the night, um, Brendo tends to his wounds, but there's something festering that he can't quite get rid of. Um, Wuzzle rolls uh his caterpillar, his or hers. What do we think?

SPEAKER_04 7:54

I think it's a she. It's a she.

SPEAKER_03 7:56

Yeah. She rolls her caterpillar eyes and uh goes clomping off uh as we're going to sleep because she is the a creature of the night. And in the morning we wake up each with a key on our chest, and uh we're unclear, but it seems like Wuzzle brought them to us because Wuzzle doesn't want to be there any longer. Nice.

SPEAKER_04 8:17

Wuzzle had been hoarding these keys.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:20

Wuzzle's actually a dragon. Combine your efforts. So one more key. Let's see if you can bring it home, ooch.

SPEAKER_03 8:27

Ooch, bring it home, ooch.

SPEAKER_04 8:29

We lose five keys in the next one.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Oh, that'll not bad, not bad. Six. It's a six.

SPEAKER_04 8:35

Okay. You uh you gain a key, but you gotta roll an encounter. You got to roll an encounter.

SPEAKER_03 8:47

D Hundo. Six and then a Hundo. Yeah, four and sixty-seven.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 9:01

What's amazing is that this is all to escape the bog snaps, and we still need to go to that dungeon to find the sword. No. Was that a random? I don't know. We'll see. We'll see. Ben has actually been handcrafting on a piece of graph paper, the dungeon with a sword in it. He's been working on it for six years.

SPEAKER_04 9:19

That is so not true. I've done nothing, haven't even thought about it.

SPEAKER_03 9:26

No preparation at all. That's because for uh for those that are watching, we're actually using the Mucklin sandbox setting, which is the accompaniment to the core rules of Lande. And that is, you know, so Ben's preparation is pretty easy.

SPEAKER_04 9:42

That's it's just James and I have already done the preparation.

SPEAKER_03 9:47

Yeah, there's hundreds and hundreds of locations and characters and quest hooks and rumors and to pursue and all that stuff. All will be included in the in the ups upcoming uh crowdsourcing campaign.

SPEAKER_04 9:58

So definitely go to landybeam.com and it's all supplemented by reams of tables, of random tables to like generate stuff. So case in point, um, you guys. Casey Affleck.

SPEAKER_03 10:15

One derail after another, like data, like references that no person. It's it's because I didn't have any time for a pre-show, and I and I didn't get time to like get out all the crap from my brain. So we're seeing a lot of it spawned in the stream. Yeah, and our I'm I st I'm still scrolling through the wiki for Big Pad Viewboards, even as we speak.

SPEAKER_04 10:32

So all right, I need you guys to focus because you guys are walking into a chamber with a door and we're walking on all four walls.

SPEAKER_03 10:44

But what about the ceiling?

SPEAKER_04 10:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:48

The ceiling is a door? There's a door on the ceiling and the floor, and the floor. Oh, geez. I opened the door on the ceiling and the floor, and I jumped through the door on the floor, and I'd fall through the one with the ceiling in the endless loop.

SPEAKER_04 11:25

Uh well, you can't because there's a uh small hunched creature in a hood sitting on a stool in there. Uh it looks like this knobby, leathery little little guy uh one eye open.

SPEAKER_02 11:42

Old man, what are you doing in this Temple of Evil?

SPEAKER_04 11:48

It doesn't answer your question. Um Wuzzle kind of has her back arched, the hair standing up.

SPEAKER_03 11:57

Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

SPEAKER_04 12:00

Um, and the little old man says, What am I?

SPEAKER_03 12:07

So he is um a hun, he like I'm I'm not telling him, but I'm asking you. Uh he has like a little hunchback who's wearing a leather thing, has one eye open. Um I turn to Hooch and I say, He's the keeper of time, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

Yeah, I think you're right. Let's do that again. No, no. He's one eye one eye shut.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

There's four doors.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

What am I?

Tail In The Door And The Cackling Threat

SPEAKER_03 12:42

Yeah. I think we I I who says, You're winking, and like winks back at him.

SPEAKER_04 12:52

Um one of the doors opens. Oh, I got it wrong.

SPEAKER_03 13:01

And behind it is door. What's behind door number one? I I rush over Ben and I close it. Does that work? Uh roll a D100. Oh jeez. Ninety. Ninety tribles.

SPEAKER_04 13:22

You hear uh a strange chittering behind the door. And um before you can close it, this like big uh scaly tail sticks its way out to block the door.

SPEAKER_03 13:44

Um can I rush up behind him and like also try to push the door shut? Like with it to combine our strength? How how big is the scaly tail? Like it belongs to a dragon kind of scaly tail, or is it like uh a lizard man? Like is it like a pool noodle or a city bus?

SPEAKER_04 14:12

Everything can be touching on it. Uh in between that.

SPEAKER_03 14:16

It's bigger than bread box. It's bigger than a bread box. It's smaller than a city bus. Um interesting.

SPEAKER_04 14:25

It says Well, you guys can try to make a um you guys can try to make a my check.

SPEAKER_03 14:36

Yeah, let's do it. Yeah, let's combine our power is combined. We are Captain Planet. It's a nine. Okay, I'm gonna get you.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

He's a mighty little rascal.

SPEAKER_03 14:50

He's mighty mighty. That's a nine also. Just letting it all hang out.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

Nice.

SPEAKER_03 14:59

Wuzzle even tries to push the door shut. She's the new Claudia. We're gonna fuse a weapon to her back.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

We're not we're not gonna allow another one of our companions to be mutated by toxic weapons.

SPEAKER_04 15:14

Um the door shuts, but you can feel like the pounding of the tail, and it says, Ah, you're no fun. There's something alive down here. Oh yes, yes, yes, yes. What uh a question for you.

SPEAKER_03 15:31

Okay. Shoot Tex.

SPEAKER_04 15:35

Texas is real birds that kneel.

SPEAKER_03 15:39

What do you call birds that kneel?

SPEAKER_01 15:43

What do you call birds that kneel?

SPEAKER_03 15:46

Penitent birds. I whispered a hooch, but that's not the answer. I'm just making a comment.

SPEAKER_05 15:52

Um time's up. Chicken. Birds of prey.

SPEAKER_03 16:01

Oh I I attacked it. I attack him immediately.

SPEAKER_06 16:05

I attack him.

SPEAKER_04 16:08

Actually, both of you roll uh metal.

SPEAKER_03 16:12

Oh no. Uh thirteen. Ooh, uh eight.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

Plus a quest point? Maybe it's up to you.

SPEAKER_03 16:28

No, well, plus a quest point. You know what? We're gonna burn through these quest points fast. We got faith.

Skeletons Emerge And Combat Begins

SPEAKER_04 16:34

You both like can't help but chuckle a little bit. Like you don't even think it's funny, but you're like oh, I see what you did there. It's like you're compelled.

SPEAKER_03 16:49

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I can only imagine what it would be like if we didn't resist, we would be in conniption fits on the floor. Oh gosh. Um, what is this guy? Yeah, this guy's dangerous.

SPEAKER_04 17:02

The four-way so just to be clear, this was the thing behind the door talking to you.

SPEAKER_03 17:08

Oh, uh, cackle trees. We get away from that door, like let's hand let's nail that shut. The horrifying monsters. Um I get it. I get it, I get it, I get it. I thought it was the guy in the center of the room again. Yeah, so did I. But this is worth What am I? Who who is talking now?

SPEAKER_00 17:36

The old guy What am I with one eye? Another door opens. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:58

Oh do it, George.

SPEAKER_03 18:00

Yeah. Oh, don't be a Lich. He's a if he's on a stool, I'd say he's a stool sample.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

We become the cackle.

SPEAKER_04 18:13

So full disclosure, uh I'm not even sure if this riddle really works.

SPEAKER_03 18:21

Oh god, I this you know this is why we play test, Ben. This is why we play test. This is why we play test. This will this will be the wet party wipes, a riddle. Swear to god, if it's right, if it's time or something, I'm just gonna like lose my my brains. It's not time.

SPEAKER_04 18:35

Because I I I don't know, I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 18:39

But if you as the GM don't get it, that's problematic. You're you are more riddly than I am. You're more of an Edward Digma. Wow.

SPEAKER_04 18:50

I only either way, uh skeletons start walking out of the door that opens. Four of them.

SPEAKER_03 18:58

Um we go through the door and close it.

SPEAKER_04 19:03

You gotta get through the skeletons.

SPEAKER_03 19:06

That's an interesting plan, though. I kind of dig it. Yeah, I'm like, I don't know. The other side of this door is a place of horror beyond our wildest. Yeah, it's it's just a void of nothing, and we get called out every time someone's in the random dungeon. We're there for an eternity. I I'm kind of into this plan. I want to go through the door and see what's on the other side.

SPEAKER_04 19:24

Um we're in a conflict against four skeletons.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Well, um skeletons can't be reasoned with, so that's a plus.

SPEAKER_03 19:39

Um I am going to. There's four of them.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Can we take four skeletons? I feel emboldened because I have a magical shield.

SPEAKER_03 19:52

Yeah, and uh, we killed a ramgore, so and we have uh a bow that never misses or something. Or lucky lucky bow, crossbow. Yeah, you've got that. It does it does less damage than my actual weapon, which is funny, but it has a chance to re-attack.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

Um I am going to I think I am going to um slingshot. Interesting.

SPEAKER_03 20:31

I wonder I was thinking about trying to slingshot or like maybe combining my powers, but I don't want to blow two powers on four skeletons, I just don't want to do it. Never mind. Never mind. But I had a I had a creative idea. I see make it look like the guy was attacking the skeletons. Ah, I see, I see. Um I mean, I I'm up for some conflict.

SPEAKER_04 20:56

Okay, I mean, do you wanna do something before combat or just roll an issue?

SPEAKER_03 21:02

I mean, I I I can't heal my Wound in any way, right? So I think I'm just gonna get okay. I I will uh what I'll do physically is like get in front of George Brendo with my shield out to like protect him because he's wounded.

SPEAKER_00 21:17

Awesome.

SPEAKER_03 21:20

And then I will fight. I am very glad that we closed the door on that cacklis.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Yeah, that would be the end of us.

SPEAKER_03 21:26

That would be a horrible death. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:29

Alright. Um roll that Tiv.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

Alright, here we go, y'all. That is a 10. That is a nine. Nice.

SPEAKER_03 21:44

Brando. Um, I uh also want a nine. Make it happen. There it is. You know what though? Uh I'd rather that be the bad roll than uh one of my attack rolls. It's like that's the kind of role you like spill your cup of coffee like right before you find it.

SPEAKER_04 22:08

All right, who cheer up.

SPEAKER_03 22:10

Alright, I'm going to strike one of the skeletons with a mechanism.

SPEAKER_04 22:14

One of them is wearing armor.

SPEAKER_03 22:16

I will strike that one. Okay. He's obviously the leader. Actually, you know what? Once every other round, I guess other not this round. Next round, I will attack twice, but this round I will attack.

unknown 22:32

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 22:33

That's good. It's a three, so it's not critical miss, at least.

SPEAKER_04 22:41

Skeleton does have a minus one defense. That'll do it. I I the red skeleton.

SPEAKER_02 22:47

The war pick flies out of my hands and just like clatters down the hallway like the door that they came through.

SPEAKER_06 22:55

No.

SPEAKER_04 22:59

Uh so you're standing there with just your shield.

SPEAKER_03 23:01

Yeah, I just I put the shield in front of me.

SPEAKER_04 23:07

All right. Uh that one attacks you it it uh critically misses.

SPEAKER_03 23:17

That's right. It stabs the guy in the chair.

SPEAKER_04 23:28

Shatters one of its uh skeleton friends. Nice.

SPEAKER_03 23:33

We cheer. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:34

Yay!

SPEAKER_03 23:36

We immediately believe that he is on our side and line up shoulder to shoulder with him. Because as Wuzzle indicated, we are idiots.

SPEAKER_04 23:48

Uh two more attack you, Hooch.

SPEAKER_01 23:52

All right, see how it goes, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 23:59

All right. Um one of them attacks and also whiffs against your shield and ends up um attacking the armored one. Takes three dread, but the other one hits with a counterattack.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

I will counterattack him.

SPEAKER_04 24:22

And does one dread to you.

Shield Powers Unlocked Amid Chaos

SPEAKER_03 24:26

I critically hit him on the counterattack. Amazing. For do you have plus two attack? No, I rolled an 11. Oh, he's minus one. Dang it. It's not a crit. But it would have been glorious. Well, either way, I rolled six dread.

SPEAKER_04 24:54

Um yeah, you uh you crumble the skeleton.

SPEAKER_03 24:59

Oh, wait a minute. Is my damage um my dread is disadvantage because I'm bashing it with a shield? Right? Uh dread is disadvantage when you're not using a weapon. You can use anything to fight with, but when it's oh okay, that's interesting. Your dread is just disadvantage. Oops. Okay. I rolled a six again.

SPEAKER_06 25:22

Ah yes, I bash him.

SPEAKER_03 25:25

Nice. Excellent.

SPEAKER_04 25:31

Just uh so uh I'm gonna say while you're fighting with the shield, you kind of learn what it can do. Sort of unlocking its power. You basically uh get the feel for it. So what the shield does is uh you can roll plus might to topple stones and trees once per session.

SPEAKER_05 26:00

What that's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 26:03

And you can also uh stun and knock an adversary prone once per combat with an attack.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

Nice for combat, you said?

SPEAKER_03 26:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:30

So has two ability ability dads.

SPEAKER_03 26:33

Ableed odds. Ableed odd.

SPEAKER_04 26:44

So you have uh knocked out two of the skelly tones.

SPEAKER_03 26:49

They're my favorite bands. Brundo's turn. Uh they've all gone.

unknown 26:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 26:57

This is me not complaining, you know. Um I roll Remind me how wounds work Ben in minus one or left. I was getting I was getting the Star Wars rules confused in my head. I'm like, I don't have enough d6 to remove d6s from my d6 rules.

SPEAKER_04 27:12

Gotta remove all your d12s.

SPEAKER_03 27:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:14

Oh no.

SPEAKER_03 27:15

Um I roll a D12s.

SPEAKER_04 27:16

So you're just minus one to everything.

SPEAKER_03 27:17

Got it. Uh I I'm using my um my keytar. I say I'm going back to my trusty weapon and I'm gonna shred on the armored dude. Ah. He's minus one defense. I'm minus one attack. Together, that's a miss. So you deal one dread. No, it's not even glance. Glancing six to six to nine. Six to eight. Oh, okay, cool. That is better than nothing. He's not uh a revenant, he doesn't hate music.

SPEAKER_04 27:57

You glance on skeleton and glancing on skeletons. It is the next round. So you've just got one skeleton with armor and one with no armor. Okay. And the the guy on the stool keeps saying, What am I? What am I?

SPEAKER_03 28:20

I mean I don't want to open another door yet. I know. I turn to respond, but then I'm like, wait a minute. I get a six for initiative. Hooch. Ooh, sorry. I get a five.

SPEAKER_04 28:41

Alright, Brendo, you go first.

SPEAKER_03 28:44

Okay. Um, you're not very hurt at all, right? No, I'm okay. And I've got a shield. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 28:54

I can block a 1d10.

SPEAKER_03 28:58

Um, I'm gonna use good new uh no, I can use this out of combat. This is not relevant right now. Uh I will just attack again.

SPEAKER_04 29:06

You know, I keep forgetting to use location aspects.

SPEAKER_02 29:11

Oh nice.

SPEAKER_03 29:14

You know what I mean? I do burn. Uh I keep forgetting to critical.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

Oh, snap! Look at Georgie Jordan.

SPEAKER_03 29:25

It's not a critical, it's just a hit because it's minus two. But it felt good at the time. Which one are you attacking? Uh a guy with the armoire, the giant chest of drawers. That's gonna be maximum damage. Nice five. Um turns out he is a revenant after all.

SPEAKER_04 29:49

Uh no, but you get his attention. I don't want his attention. He seems to hate your music. It's like really disturbing him.

SPEAKER_03 29:59

Yeah. He he's mouthing that I suck. Somehow I can tell, even though he's just a face of bones. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:09

And it uh shambles over to you and strikes.

SPEAKER_03 30:15

Nice. What is your uh defense? Um, I immediately turn into mist. No. Um, it is probably still just yeah, zero. Okay. Saddle.

SPEAKER_04 30:27

That is uh four dread to you. The other skeleton attacks hooch. I believe that is a critical miss again.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

And yeah, I'm minus two defense.

SPEAKER_04 30:48

It's pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

That's three critical misses against me. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_03 30:58

You're on hidaboo.

SPEAKER_04 31:04

Yeah, sorry, uh looking something up, but uh you can go ahead.

Chasing Darkness Behind The Door

SPEAKER_03 31:12

I'm gonna bash the armored skeleton attacking George. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 31:19

That is a five.

SPEAKER_03 31:26

That will be a miss. Uh Ben, did you ever have anything come of those location aspects?

SPEAKER_05 31:37

Um yes.

SPEAKER_04 31:42

There are slow ceiling and a rat infestation. Rat infestation.

SPEAKER_03 31:55

Uh Wuzzle is having a steal day, and as we're fighting, she is just killing rats, and she's piled them up at our feet. Yeah, she's chasing them around, and she's even getting under our feet. Everybody's like tripping back and forth trying to fight each other. It's creating a lot of chaos. It's like Tom and Jerry's happening in this room while we're trying to have a fight with skeletons. Yeah, and like if from their perspective, all you see is like legs moving around while they're having their like you know, rockets hijinks.

SPEAKER_04 32:28

I love it. Uh so by the way, the the skeleton that attacked you, hooch, this rusty sword went flying out of his hands, and now he's just going towards you.

SPEAKER_03 32:41

Can I roll a nimbless to catch it? Oh, that'd be cool. Uh sure. I said sure.

SPEAKER_01 32:56

Six.

SPEAKER_03 32:59

Stabs you in the face. I was about to say it takes my fingers off. Like that guy in Road Warrior when he's like the boomer.

SPEAKER_04 33:09

But you take one dread in the process.

SPEAKER_06 33:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:12

You catch it with your mouth. Um, and you take uh uh James, roll a vitality check to not get tetanus. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:24

That's it. That's a game ender. Yeah. I rolled a six. Yeah, I rolled a six.

SPEAKER_03 33:30

I spend my entire next action giving um hooch a booster shot. It's in my butt too, right? Isn't that still yeah, yeah. Like all the way up.

SPEAKER_01 33:46

That's horrible. Not even in the meat.

SPEAKER_02 33:49

Jeez.

SPEAKER_04 33:51

Uh I gotta be honest, I don't even know where we are in the uh order of things here.

SPEAKER_03 33:56

Um uh the skeleton went to Tech Hooch and I attacked back and you attacked back and failed. I am I need to go eventually. I thought you went first this time. Was that this round? Yeah. So I still need to go eventually next round. Yeah, yes. Now it is next round. Okay, I need to go first.

unknown 34:21

I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_03 34:23

I mean, I do do and do do. Um I keep shredding away. Sorry, James, James, go ahead and roll. I did, I failed. Oh, you did? I rolled a three. That was a three. Got it. I didn't fail. I just rolled a thing. I failed it. Oh, whoa, that's a big roll. That'll do it. Uh I roll a it's glancing again. It's one more damage.

SPEAKER_04 34:55

Um it uh it is enough to make this skeleton not just crumble into dust, but it it uh it's sort of like if you're a cleric and you turn it, it um turns around, starts shambling back into the door.

SPEAKER_03 35:17

Um, I'm not done with you yet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I I chase it. Yeah, we all chase it inside the door. Because this riddle sucks. It might just be one of those like, um bang, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 35:32

Well, it's uh it's not your turn to chase it. Um you got a skeleton in front of you.

SPEAKER_03 35:37

Oh, it'll do whatever you want.

SPEAKER_04 35:40

And uh be a miss, but um standing in your way.

SPEAKER_03 35:49

I am going to can I like check him with the shield like out of the way? Yeah, you could use its ability.

SPEAKER_01 36:10

Topple stones or trees. Like, I don't that's that's is that once per session though?

SPEAKER_04 36:17

You missed the second ability, it's um oh once per combat done.

SPEAKER_03 36:21

Okay, yeah. I I do want to do that. I'll I will roll to do that. That's a 12, 13.

SPEAKER_04 36:30

Yeah, you uh flatten this like a pancake. And you know, I'll be honest. Please be honest, Ben.

SPEAKER_03 36:42

Stop lying to us.

SPEAKER_04 36:43

Like the guy, that's just flavor of defeating the skeleton, you know, instead of just you crumbling a skeleton with music.

SPEAKER_03 36:52

Oh I like crumbling skeletons with music better. The music has the power to move you, Ben. So by that logic, it would have the power to move you to like being in pain and crumbling to death.

SPEAKER_04 37:08

So I mean you could just like go up and and smash it if you want.

SPEAKER_03 37:11

I am not elkabonging. This is a sacred instrument. No, this is a yeah, it's like having a strativarius. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:18

No, I in any way you want. Any way I want it.

SPEAKER_03 37:23

That's the way I need it. Do you want me to come up with a different way that my music kills people every time? It's for flavor.

SPEAKER_04 37:29

Your music doesn't literally kill people.

SPEAKER_03 37:32

It does, but creates dread. I know, yeah. Yeah, it's just so our courage is too great. Yeah, it bolsters our courage, and it actually that would be kind of a cool concept, is if if bards had an ability that bolstered our courage while damaging, but then that's just two different actions. That's fine. Um yes, the the skeleton can no longer stand the sound of my music. It's elevator music, and the lasers coming out of your guitar. Yes, just like slice it in half, and it just like wham. Ben's not Ben hates all of this. Uh yeah. So what do you guys do? Uh next round, bro. There's one one guy left. I need to I want to chase that guy down the hallway. Well, I thought there was still one skeleton standing, right? I stunned him. Oh, you stunned him. So you want to use this opportunity to chase the other guy down the hallway? Yeah. Alright. If that's what hooch wants, that's what hooch gets.

SPEAKER_01 38:53

Partially because I don't know what's in the hallway. I want to chase the skeleton into the doorway that it came.

SPEAKER_03 39:01

And see what's on the other side.

SPEAKER_04 39:05

Uh, it looks like complete darkness.

SPEAKER_03 39:08

And then nothing but like the shadows of hands reaching out for you. It's like the worst thing in the world.

SPEAKER_04 39:16

Yeah, you see the skeleton uh walking off into the darkness. I mean, you like I said, you could slay him.

SPEAKER_03 39:24

No, no, we just want to know what's behind the door. I think the war pick. Actually, I almost forgot about that. Um, so it's just darkness behind this door. There's like nothingness. This can't be the way out. All right. I kind of freak out like a little bit, and I like the scrape of the middle of the war pick as I pick it up, and I just kind of back out and then it closes the door again.

SPEAKER_04 39:52

I mean, you could try to keep going down it.

SPEAKER_03 39:55

What do you think, George? Feels like a bad idea. It does feel like a really bad idea, but at the same time means we do it, but yeah. I don't want to like I don't want to find out that we're like 400 miles away, like or something like that. You know what I mean? Like that would be we'd like we come out of a cave and scrock in this mountain or something. Yeah, you run into a dummy thick bog roll uh knight errant and his uh best friend, uh shrimp. Yeah. I'm gonna I'm gonna back out of here. It's making me nervous.

SPEAKER_04 40:29

Yeah, the little man on the stool spins around and looks at you smugly and says, What am I?

SPEAKER_03 40:36

I know it's like I get he's trying to play on the eye. I just don't get how to like discuss this.

SPEAKER_04 40:44

See, that's where you're wrong, George. There's just there's nothing I feel like he's like the key or the gatekeeper, or like no, he's like an eye. Nope, that has nothing to do with it. No, it's almost nonsensical.

SPEAKER_03 41:00

Um, are you the key? Are you the gatekeeper? Like it goes with the Gozarian. Another door opens. It's almost nonsensical.

SPEAKER_02 41:12

Roll a D100.

SPEAKER_03 41:14

Like it's going to be something really, really irritating. 70. Really, really, really irritating. I know. I'm I'm every time we roll one of these, I'm just afraid it's going to be something we just cannot handle.

SPEAKER_04 41:24

Yeah. Um a pair of bounty hunters come out of the door.

SPEAKER_03 41:34

Okay, this is this is an opportunity because we could maybe talk to them. Yeah. Okay. Who should we start after?

SPEAKER_02 41:41

There they are. Get 'em. Wait a minute. Who are you guys? Get 'em.

SPEAKER_04 41:47

Who are uh who are we?

unknown 41:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:51

We're after you.

SPEAKER_02 41:53

Since when? When do we have a bounty on our heads?

SPEAKER_05 41:57

Since just now? No one's ever asked us that before.

SPEAKER_02 42:04

It's because of this guy. You think he's gonna be able to pay you?

SPEAKER_05 42:10

Wait, you're getting paid? They said you're gonna pay.

SPEAKER_03 42:14

Start attacking each other. Yeah, I feel like you've been tricked into this.

SPEAKER_01 42:21

It's all because of this guy. He's guarding these doors. We're in this terrible place, this dungeon. Like make a charm check, hooch. Three.

SPEAKER_05 42:40

You're hurting my head, man. It's really kicking me off.

SPEAKER_04 42:46

They start pulling out their weapons. This guy's got a crossbow that he's loading.

SPEAKER_03 42:52

Uh, I say, uh you guys from um, what town were we from? I have to like literally scroll over the map. Are you from are you guys from Bogtown?

SPEAKER_04 43:06

Town?

SPEAKER_03 43:07

Bogtown.

SPEAKER_04 43:08

Where are we from? They look really confused.

SPEAKER_03 43:12

They just yell, who am I, while screaming up into the rain.

SPEAKER_04 43:19

Um they uh they seem poised to strike you. Um they do look like a pair of meaty fellows.

SPEAKER_03 43:30

Meteors. Uh I'm gonna oh go ahead. I I have something to okay. Go for it. All right, I'm gonna just I'm gonna use famous. Um, I'm gonna roll like roll plus charm once procession events from the NPCs heard about me. I'm gonna say, because these guys seem really confused, right? I'm gonna say that uh I'll tell them like I'm I'm Brendo Sim, the the Bard, the famous bard. And I'll say that the guys they may not recognize me necessarily, but like one of them will be it'll kind of trigger something in them, like the this memory of like, oh, bard, music. Like, I I I don't belong here. Why am I here? And then um perhaps like they'll be wanting like it'll clear up his memory and he'll be wanted to get out of here. I will I will I will try to roll with that, George, and see if I can't help.

SPEAKER_00 44:22

All right.

SPEAKER_03 44:24

You on board with that, Ben?

SPEAKER_00 44:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:29

Oh, I'm wounded, but so it's minus one. Um oh, so it's actually an 11. I'm sorry. I don't have plus three. I could, but I spent my XP on this cape. It's very fashionable.

SPEAKER_04 44:45

Um yeah, it seems like something's jogging his memory, and he says uh bog town.

SPEAKER_03 44:52

Bogdown.

SPEAKER_04 44:54

Sim.

SPEAKER_03 44:55

Yeah, sip is also fine, but sim is the preferred pronunciation.

SPEAKER_05 45:02

Little simple do yeah. What are we doing here?

SPEAKER_03 45:06

We just join up with us. Get out of here.

SPEAKER_02 45:09

Wait a minute. Do I know you? Are you what is your name Mike? Watch Mike.

SPEAKER_04 45:18

Are you using something or not yet?

SPEAKER_02 45:21

Not yet. No, it's Tim. Tim! That's what it is. It's Tim Tool Man. Oh my gosh, I know what's going on here. We hired you guys.

SPEAKER_03 45:36

Oh Lord.

SPEAKER_02 45:38

We hired you guys! Your bounty's right over here.

SPEAKER_03 45:41

And I point to the guy on the chair. I use I use fibbing to roll advantage on a trickery. Dangle Fibonacci sequence. Wait, did you say to roll damage while tricking? To roll advantage on a tricky. Oh, advantage. I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We don't want to attack them. Or do we? No. I also throw my copper coins on the ground. The other guy scrambles to pick them up. Yeah, I'm rolling a trickery with advantage.

unknown 46:19

No.

SPEAKER_03 46:20

No. Uh, I'm gonna use Ode. That's a seven. That's that's not enough, right?

SPEAKER_04 46:28

No, it's a success with a twist. Oh, okay. We try to do that.

SPEAKER_03 46:33

The twist is the uh original deal from their perspective was a bag of gold coins. It's pretty good. Um two bags.

SPEAKER_02 46:44

No one for each, Brendo. It's only fair. Come on. We only have two bags with gold.

SPEAKER_00 46:55

Easy come, easy go.

SPEAKER_04 46:57

You know, here's the situation. These guys are in a um weird magical situation. They're not like they don't know why they're here or what they're doing. It's obviously some weird, like, horrible dungeon place.

SPEAKER_06 47:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:17

Um, so they are happy to put all their anger at this little man. However, the guy poofs away once they uh go and like try to seize him.

SPEAKER_03 47:33

Seize him. Okay. Um, okay. And then all like and then the door. I shout, check the doors, and we all run to scramble and like try to open locked doors, like rattling doorknobs to get out. I open the door on the ceiling.

SPEAKER_04 47:50

Uh they're they're locked. The ones that you haven't opened.

SPEAKER_03 47:59

Um, I cannot pick locks very well. I cannot bend bars or lift gates.

SPEAKER_05 48:09

What am I?

SPEAKER_04 48:10

You hear from like nowhere, his disembodied voice. And then the the room starts rumbling.

SPEAKER_02 48:22

You're a riddle. No. Close! Close.

SPEAKER_03 48:29

No, the door opens. He's a trap.

SPEAKER_04 48:35

The ceiling starts crumbling and like rocks start falling on you.

SPEAKER_03 48:39

Everyone's you're a riddle master, you're a trap. You're you're you're you're you're I like dive out of the way of the boulder.

SPEAKER_00 48:47

I refuse to make a nimbleness check. No, um, I will in a second.

SPEAKER_03 48:56

Uh it's gonna be ooh, good thing I put plus one into my nimbleness because it's also minus one, so it's a six.

SPEAKER_01 49:05

It's a seven.

SPEAKER_04 49:07

All right. Uh you both um stumble, fall on your butts.

SPEAKER_03 49:18

One guy is doing great, and the other guy is just got clouded by a boulder.

unknown 49:22

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 49:33

What is a riddle?

SPEAKER_03 49:37

A game.

Prizes From The Bag And A Black Key

SPEAKER_04 49:43

The place starts shaking even more violently.

SPEAKER_02 49:47

A quest. A challenge. A mind game. A trick. A trap.

SPEAKER_04 49:55

All right, make another nimbleness checks, and you both have uh minus one. That is I fail. I'm dead. Uh nine. Uh George, you take eight dread. Oh god. It's a boulder, just clocks you in the head. I mean, you see the swaying doors of the bounty hunter door and the skeleton door. These look like ways that you could possibly get out of here.

SPEAKER_03 50:28

Um we're close. We're close with a riddle. What is a riddle? Did I already say he's a question?

SPEAKER_04 50:39

Everything stops.

SPEAKER_03 50:41

Odd. I almost cursed on stream right now. I very, very, very like. Nice work, though. Uh I get it. I'm not happy about it, but I get it.

SPEAKER_04 51:03

The little uh little man appears.

SPEAKER_03 51:06

He he looks like before he can say a word, I shoot him.

SPEAKER_04 51:14

He removes his hood and he looks like this uh sort of um haggard gnome like creature.

SPEAKER_03 51:23

He's like an insane gnome, right? Like he he was the gnome who got Tommy Knack dungeon. Wow.

SPEAKER_04 51:33

Yes. And uh he says Oh good god.

SPEAKER_03 51:41

Oh, I was thinking of Tommy Knocker in Spicy. Thank you. It's the same thing, it's like an old Irish thing, I think.

SPEAKER_05 51:47

Oh, my shallow. You're the first ones, the first ones.

SPEAKER_04 51:55

You get a prize.

SPEAKER_03 51:58

Oh Brendo just falls over because he's like been concussed. Wait, Cooch knows that he not he's not supposed to let Brendo fall asleep at this point, but Hooch is excited about the prize, so he doesn't pay attention. What's the prize? I'm like holding him like leaning against my shoulder.

SPEAKER_01 52:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:16

Oh, I don't uh forget to leave.

SPEAKER_05 52:21

Uh come on. Well, that that too, but don't you want to see what you get?

SPEAKER_01 52:30

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 52:32

He pulls out a bag out of nowhere. Says stick your hand in.

SPEAKER_02 52:37

I look at Bruno. I look at Bruno. I don't know, man.

SPEAKER_03 52:41

I'm still unconscious. I'm not I'm not really unconscious. Uh um, I shrug, I say I'll do it if you want me to. No, I'll do it. You're wounded already. I'll I'll put my hand in.

unknown 52:53

All right.

SPEAKER_03 52:54

Comes out with 40 gold rings on it. Each finger has a golden ring on it. Yeah, pull it out. Roll a d400. Uh how do I roll a d400? D40, 60, 80, 100. Roll uh slash roll space D400. 374. 374 kilobytes of information are downloaded into your head.

SPEAKER_05 53:21

Indeed, indeed, indeed.

SPEAKER_04 53:24

Uh you pull out a tuning fork. Nice.

SPEAKER_03 53:29

All right.

SPEAKER_06 53:30

Boom!

SPEAKER_03 53:31

You know, when you hit it, the room actually puts itself back together. That would be godly powerful. The tuning fork of uh rebuilding. You're welcome. You can put that in the sandbox, guys.

SPEAKER_04 53:54

And uh the Tommy hacker presents the bag to you, Brendo.

SPEAKER_00 54:04

Oh, sorry, to me, yes.

SPEAKER_03 54:06

Um I look at him, I look at the tuning fork, I look at Hooch, and I think 255. Pull out Excalibur.

SPEAKER_04 54:25

Pull out a parachute.

SPEAKER_03 54:28

Oh, uh pants or oh, that'd be so sweet. Yeah. I love that. Um, I I I look at the man and I look at Wuzzle and I look back at the man like implying like, hmm? The cat? She's part of the party too. The cat is suddenly really attentive and drops him a rat that's in his mouth and saunters over to the bag and climbs in.

SPEAKER_04 54:55

The Tommy Knacker finally notices the caterpillar and um seems really put off by it. So get that thing out of here.

SPEAKER_03 55:06

Interesting. Interesting. Well, you don't like caterpillars? I'll pick up the caterpillar in my case.

SPEAKER_02 55:14

Oh, you don't like that little guy, huh? You don't like that? Get away, buddy. Get away. Good day, sir, I say.

SPEAKER_01 55:33

Sorry about Tim. What's your name?

SPEAKER_04 55:37

Um, my name is uh Jorf.

SPEAKER_03 55:42

Jorf.

SPEAKER_04 55:43

Wait, I've heard of you, Jorf.

SPEAKER_03 55:49

No. Oh, must be something. I'll tap his chest and be like, hey, stick with us.

SPEAKER_04 55:56

You'll be okay. I'm a bounty hunter. Like, I don't know how I got down here with that little creep.

SPEAKER_01 56:04

Well, let's get out of here. We're going to Bogtown, but we won't be back there for like two or three years. Boy, the that's a long time.

SPEAKER_03 56:19

It is. It is. But uh, you know, we're in the quagmash if you didn't know, so we may want to stick together. It's uh pretty dangerous up there.

SPEAKER_05 56:29

The quagmash. It's all coming back to me. Me and Tim. We were uh hunting some bandits.

SPEAKER_01 56:41

Bandits didn't happen to be red boots, did they?

SPEAKER_03 56:46

These guys are now part of our room. We hate those guys. Yeah, we hate those guys. Were you guys looking for uh uh twin beard? Was it harn twin beard? Yeah, that's the one. These guys are harn twinbeard? I I started that.

SPEAKER_01 57:07

What we gotta lead on harn. But we gotta take care of something first.

SPEAKER_03 57:15

He's uh we know where he's it where he is, but the area is guarded by a giant drake. The musical artist or the the dragon thing, the musical artist, yeah. Back off the rails, baby. This is this is Ben's punishment for that.

SPEAKER_04 57:37

Dude, I'm just I'm just I know I'm just kidding. Doing what's in front of me, okay?

SPEAKER_03 57:44

I love it.

SPEAKER_04 57:44

This could very well be James's fault. It could be, probably is.

SPEAKER_03 57:51

What what will never cease to amaze me is James's ability to not remember the answer to these. I didn't remember it, but like I had I kind of remember it now, but like I don't remember writing this. But like I genuinely appreciate that that you don't remember him because I would be the same way. I'd be like, mm.

SPEAKER_04 58:08

It's really hard to remember like the random table stuff, especially.

SPEAKER_03 58:12

I mean, it's like hundreds, it's like there's hundreds of them and like hundreds of pages.

SPEAKER_06 58:17

I can't remember it all.

SPEAKER_03 58:19

But we can go back and tweak that one for sure. That was a good play test. It's it's fine. I think that that things like that are appropriate for also. There's a really high chance it was a first draft that hasn't been addressed since. So now these riddles and stuff, like sidebar, uh are they they're available in the GMs materials? Or okay, so so like players can't just be perusing these things, right? I mean, like obviously that's in bad case for players. I mean if you if you have the core rule books and totally you can like see it because maybe you want to run your own game sometime, but if you're I mean, I don't know. I don't know. It's like anything, you can always find everything you want to find, and you know, you can do you feel like you should put like a disclaimer in the the book, like hey, you know, PCs shouldn't read the riddles and stuff, or is it like really gonna be up to them at that point? I feel like it'd ruin the fun if I knew, you know.

SPEAKER_04 59:18

Yeah, but like players can just like look at a module and learn everything, and like there's just no fun in that.

SPEAKER_03 59:27

Yeah, plus there's a lot of people that like to just read the modules because they're fun to read. I guess so. You guys have some fun to read modules. Look at that guy. Look at this guy here. Uh six hexes, come off. Um, so so when this guy poops away, do we find a key?

SPEAKER_04 59:57

Yeah, you you realize you also pulled out a key from this bag.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:02

It's the only black key, though. Yeah. Something about it makes me want to scratch my eyes out, but we ignore that for now. All right.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:14

We we uh we take the key and we saunter over the one to one of the doors that magically has five keyholes in it now, and we place each key and turn it, and then it opens up to uh to the swamp.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:30

Where yeah, which which hex is a demo set in, James.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:35

Well, I think that uh we'll do something because I mean you guys were in there for three sessions basically.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:44

Yeah. But but in reality, only an hour has passed in the real world. No, it's been like a few days. Is that not how it works? It's not like a time dilation thing.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:56

So I want you guys to roll two d6.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:00

Okay. But each, or do you want each of us to roll one d6 and we'll Let's figure it out from there.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:04

I rolled one. I rolled a four.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:10

I rolled a six. Nice. Well, I don't know if that's nice. I mean, yeah, who knows? I just love it. I love rolling high. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:20

Keep those doggies rolled up uh right outside of Quack uh mush mash.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:26

Whoa! No, we were so close.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:30

Oh, wait, this is not good. I just I'm excited about that. Yeah, we were right next to where the sword was or where we think the sword was. Not really.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:39

We were a couple hexes. You're definitely cut. I feel like that happened way up here.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:45

Oh, did it? Uh yeah. I thought it happened next to it. I was like, I thought it was more way down here. Did you write it down? I I did, yeah. Um, I just had to hunt down my uh either way, it gets long um sinking reliquaries 3722. Yeah, so right here. Just shy of skip.

Research Fails, The Hinterlander Hook

SPEAKER_01 1:02:10

Well, maybe we should abandon that and go straight for the I mean without it though, it was the the Drake. The Drake. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:25

Sorry. I got I got too much sleep, which is also a bad thing. I'm not used to that.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:32

Um, you know, luck of the roll. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 1:02:36

Uh it's fine. Don't hate land. Well, I mean, maybe we go for it. We we're so close. And mushmash.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:50

You could uh catch up with uh um Bellow and Chini. Bello and China.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:55

Yeah, we we catch up with them.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:57

Actually, that's like yeah, we can end the quest. We come strolling into town.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:03

I'm strolling into mushmash, like the going through all the lights, and it's like actually George is probably the best situation for your woundedness because you can you guys can take some downtime here.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:14

Yeah, right. Thank god, that would be so nice, dude. Because I I was I was gonna use my ability to heal, but then the woundedness is not gonna go away. Um yes, this is all good, everything's coming up, Brendo.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:28

I want to share what Mushmash looks like when you guys walk in.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:32

There you go. It's amazing, beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:34

This is by uh Rob Gaddo. Did some artists on the sandbox?

SPEAKER_03 1:03:40

It's my pen name, actually. You're welcome, guys.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:44

So you guys stroll in. Um you see the glittering lights of mushmash, the toadstool huts. Um yeah, we can end it here, and we well, we could do some downtime stuff real quick.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:03

Yeah, uh, I think we should like role play all that out. I think like yeah, and so are Tim Tim and Jorf. Jorf? Jorf. Jorf. Are they really Jorf? Tim was killed by a full. He was crushed like fidget and time bandits. Oh god. I mean, aside from that riddle being uh not uh easy, like not a direct answer, I thought it was a cool encounter, like I did enjoy it. Yeah, I I yes, the riddle itself the encounter, yes.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:44

I mean, I did uh like do a lot of that on the fly of like opening doors and something comes out of it around.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:52

That was a good that was a good idea, and the Tommy Nacker was a good uh foil. Take notes, kids. This is how you do a good GM.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:59

This is how you play test and uh you just gotta play test every single one. So 300 things basically 150. Anyway, um now is a good time to now is the summer of our discontent to choose some of these options here.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:24

Can you zoom in on those quite a bit? Yes. Enhance really easy to read for the viewers. Enhance, enhance, enhance.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:33

So George is you will be um recuperating where you can heal all your wounds, and that's gonna take it.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:41

Nah, I'm gonna research.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:45

Uh hooch, you could uh research, you could gather information.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:51

So I I actually do want to do research, but go let's go through all the options so people can see like what you can do with downtime.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:59

Could uh infiltrate a non-evol faction at the entry level. This also appeals to me, but all but rascals have disadvantage. You could work a job, you know, work a shift over at uh mushmash bar and grill. Yeah, this is like being back at Norse, you know. A bard could do this to perform, make some cash, make a musk, make some uh following, like a fan base here. You know what remain unknown you could uh gamble, train and study, like reducing costs of XP. You can merry make, which is kind of like spending cash to make friends, and you could craft.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:04

You could macaroni and cheese.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:08

I mean, if you want, you guys could also spend an extended period of time in mush mesh, and I'll say you could do two of these things.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:16

I I think I would do that. Yeah, do that so that you can recuperate and like busk or do something. I did, and I rolled a five, so still a no. Um I want to research specifically because we ended up so far from where we are we were intending to get that sword to fight this Drake. I want to research drakes and see if I can't like discover any weaknesses that we could prepare for or exploit. Welcome to the great library of mushmash.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:46

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:48

Do you have a card? Yeah. Must register. It's like a we all have fungi recognition and we do not recognize. Yeah. In fact, like uh for outsiders, they um they just spore you the information you want. You just have to inhale spores and you get the information.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:15

So you are researching drakes.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:17

Yeah, I'm researching drakes. I'm thumbing through these books. I know nothing about the world, so I'm minus one. I not only do I learn nothing, I roll, so I got a zero pen. Oh I'm just like reading Alf blue paint in the corner. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:39

Um to tell you. Uh that's pretty it's pretty bad. It's really bad. I learned nothing and attract attention.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:54

So I accidentally deface one of the books when I'm going through it. I like I'm I'm in the process of eating something sticky, and I accidentally like rip a page. I'm like, oh, I'm trying to shake the piece of paper off my hand, and the librarian comes like over, pushing a cart angrily.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:11

Well, it's a deal out of a living must be beyond like the library attention. It's like other forces in the world.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:18

A Drake senses that I'm doing research and then burns his thing to the ground. It's forbidden.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:24

I'm gonna say that uh you know you're spending a lot of time in Mushmash, right? And um you you you run into the Hinterlander.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:40

Is that like the Highlander is gonna cut our heads off?

SPEAKER_04 1:09:44

Yeah, I think I think you learned about this guy.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:47

He's like a Felmog hunter.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:50

He's after the Drake.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:51

The Drake! Oh, I didn't write it down. This does sound familiar. You met you met a uh big fame hunter at some point who would like you if you go to Puddle Point. Yeah, right. And he mentioned that the Hinterlander was uh hunting the Drake, the black Drake. Putrefex.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:12

Pejorative pejorative. Okay, cool. The resurrect.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:24

We'll role play that next time.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:26

Um yeah, I look I look up from my accidentally defaced book, and the hinterlander is staring down at me. Yeah, shaking his head at you.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:38

All right, James. Was there something else you wanted to do?

SPEAKER_03 1:10:42

Um no, I feel like that's if I was that's too good a way to end it.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:50

Well, you could say that you did this before first.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:53

Okay. I well, I was gonna say um I also kind of want to um uh gather information about the tricky toes.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:08

And see like if any tricky toes have been seen around town, like getting supplies or something, like they're hiding out. Tricky toe gang never has been able to penetrate mushrooms because their idea of join like you know, getting into town is dressing up in mushroom costumes. I found like I gather no information. I realize that I'm not actually talking to anybody, it's just like a bronze mushroom statue, like the the library's founder outside of the building. Like, oh my god, I'm like startled because it's not a person. Yeah, and I four your total. Three was my total.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:44

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:48

Um worst researcher in the party.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:54

All right, but George, um, you get some rest and relaxation in. You uh you busk around town and no one is really digging your songs.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:03

Yeah, Bellow and Cheney show up at my events and they're the only one. But they clap like out of sync with the the rhythm. And they say we don't understand your subject material.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:16

And then when you finish, they don't clap.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:18

Yeah, they ask if you're finished. Have you finished? Yes, is this a pause in the song? All right, and then they walk away from it. And then they they both say, let us sing our people's music for you, and they just go, like never never alternate in the tone.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:38

They're like the cone heads, yes, yes, yes, all right. Let's do some quick XP and end this stream today. Quick XP, you know, you completed your objective to get out of there. That's one XP. I'll take it. You encountered several new creatures today. Um, did you have a significant NPC encounter?

SPEAKER_03 1:13:12

Uh I mean it depends on how much you want to say Dorf is gonna be. How much join is that? I mean, I I'm intrigued. We didn't do any role-playing with Dwarf, so maybe that we would save that for next time if if we remember it about him. Yeah, I think that since he's after Tricky Toes, also, that'll be interesting.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:34

Yeah. Uh get into peril or hijinks.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:38

Yeah, yeah. Can always count on that.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:43

Um I spend it on the cowl.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:58

Actually, five. Okay. Get to uh you got to mushmash. It's a new place. It was a new place.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:06

Did we travel ten? No, we didn't six.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:11

I'm sorry. That's uh you've basically fast traveled to the quagmash.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:15

That's like a freebie.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:20

Regrettably, it's like kind of in a direction we didn't want to go, but this is an interesting turn of events nonetheless. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. It'll be interesting. I wish that I was able to find something about the Drake though. I I feel like I failed this.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:35

Um that's okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:37

Well, you know, okay. You failed forward in a way, at least uh possibly. Depends on how that interaction will go with the Hinterlander. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:51

Right. The Hinterlander.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:54

Could be another uh Sir Helna the Red. Brave, Brave. Hopefully not.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:02

Hopefully not. That that like hung over us forever, but I kind of loved it. Yeah, it was good. Awesome. Um good times, yes. Yeah, fun. Always fun.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:17

Um, yeah, you know, I I felt like I was floundering a bit there, but uh we pulled it out.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:23

I really enjoyed it, like I thought it was a fun, like you did something good with the encounter. Ben, the only reason you felt like you were floundering is like you could you could sense my irritation with a question, and and like you should never take that personally because I'm just a person who will become irritated with this dumb thing. Yeah, and it's it's something that uh that probably won't come up when George GMs himself in the George GMs himself series that we uh Yeah, yeah, because I would say uh and then this riddle is too stupid, we throw it out.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:51

Uh I wouldn't riddles are always tricky because I agree. If you uh you know there's a chance that your players just will never get it and it just stalls everything.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:01

Yeah. So yeah, how do you think as a GM, let's do some GM talk. How does it as a GM? Do you give us other options like you know, if we'd gone through that door, you would have just rolled with it and then you know made it neutral no key and then proceeded onto something else?

SPEAKER_04 1:16:14

Um, I was gonna make it weird. Like you would still get a key, but you're like sort of in a different encounter.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:23

Yeah, that's that's what I would have been really expecting. I was a skeleton's one though, for whatever reason, just like my knowledge of the world, I was like too afraid that we would end up in some hundred percent forsaken Gloom King area.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:37

I also had the thought that like you go in there and you just become one of the Tommy Knacker's like doors.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:44

Yeah, that's amazing. Also terrifying that so that's such a brilliant idea that it should be put into the encounter as like something that can happen. It's like you go through one of the doors, the door closes behind you, but then the door opens again, and like you are facing another group of adventurers in front of the time actor.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:02

Run like several months to years have passed, and yeah, yeah, variable.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:07

Another group of people in front of the time actor. Because that could be interesting, because that that could that that could work kind of like the bounty hunters, where you could potentially work together if you didn't get the riddle for whatever reason. Yeah, because it's tough because you don't want to make the riddle too easy, or else you don't have fun with it like that, you know.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:24

Well, what I was not getting with the riddle was like, what's what am I? I'm a question. That's just yeah, it it doesn't track, it it tracks on a very weird, weird level, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:37

It's like yeah, I don't know. Like, like I was, I think I was hyper fixating on the fact that like he had one eye, and I was like, Yeah, uh because you kept saying, What have I?

GM Talk: Playtesting Riddles And Design

SPEAKER_04 1:17:59

Know what I mean, Vern? I mean, maybe a trap makes more sense.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:04

We yeah, because we were saying like we said riddle or trap, or we were we're at least like bantering about it, and that that made more sense to me.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:11

Yeah, that would have been that was like our second round of guesses. So that would be a good one.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:15

Yeah, which is like experienced some of the doors and stuff, which I still think are a great. Um, but yeah, I don't know. I I think it's it's it really depends on the group, right? Like uh some groups would have been like, yeah, you're a riddle, or like you're a question. It's fine. Next, next riddle. Um and then you have groups like you know, me and James. More on the screen.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:45

No, I actually think you guys are probably pretty good when it comes to riddles.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:50

It's mildly terrifying, but I appreciate the compliment.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:53

Because I I imagine there will be groups that are just really bad at them, like really easy enough to tweak to make it great. Yeah, you're only two people, so riddles become a lot easier when there's like several heads.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:10

But but do they or don't they? Because you only get the one guess, and then you know. Well, anyway, but it's like Ghostbusters, and you can like it's like all right, everybody clear your heads. Like you can like come up with a plan before you answer it, and it's like easier because you can whatever. But like don't think of anything, and then we all think of this tape by marshmallow man. Yeah, what did you do, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:19:37

It's always great to have a uh a nice time limit on the riddle.

XP, Wrap-Up, And Next Steps

SPEAKER_03 1:19:41

Yeah, like yeah, I think that was smart on your part, especially for streaming purposes. Poor poises, you know, streaming porpoises, streaming porpoises, my favorite kind of uh memo, C memo.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:55

Yeah, all right, guys. Let's uh let's wrap it up here and uh this is uh chat more about GM stuff.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:11

Thanks for joining everybody.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:14

Yeah, uh bye bye, everybody. Bye-bye.