974 – Around the Mountain | Journey Into the Land of Tomorrow 11

Episode 974 – Around the Mountain | Journey into the Land of Tomorrow 11

 

[START OF RECORDING]

 

SCOOTER:    Patrons, friends beyond the binary, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it’s time for the podcaster whose mouth goes…his mouth goes before his cart and his brain, patrons, but you make it possible.  Thank you so much, really, patrons; I really couldn’t do it without all of you.  I don’t know, it’s the time right now when people are feeling really strongly.  When you hear this, they’ll probably still be feeling strongly about things in the world or even things around the podcast, and you’re there to make me feel supported so I can support you and all of the other listeners.  Really, thank you so much and what do you say we get on with the show?

 

INTRO:    [INTRO MUSIC] Hey, are you up all night tossing, turning, mind racing?  Trouble getting to sleep?  Trouble staying asleep?  Well, welcome.  This is Sleep With Me, the podcast that puts you to sleep.  We do it with a bedtime story.  Alls you need to do is get in bed, turn out the lights, and press play.  I’m gonna do the rest.  What I’m going to attempt to do is create a safe place where you could set aside whatever’s keeping you awake.  It could be thoughts, feelings, physical sensations, changes in time or temperature or routine, so anything on your mind that you’re thinking about, anything that you’re experiencing physically or that’s coming up for you emotionally or external stuff, situational stuff.  Whatever it is that’s keeping you awake, I’d like to keep you company and take your mind off of stuff.

 

What I’m gonna do is…or what I propose to do is I got a safe place here.  I’m gonna smooth it, I’m gonna move it; I can move it, too.  I can groove it.  I can move it and groove it if you want me to.  You say, I’ll move it away from these grooves.  I’ll smooth it, I’ll pat it, I’ll rub it down, I’ll say safe place.  Then I’m gonna send my voice across the deep, dark night.  I’m gonna use lulling, soothing, creaky, dulcet tones, oh so creaky are my tones.  Creaky, dulcet tones, pointless meanders, superfluous tangents, so I’m gonna go off-topic, get mixed up, put my mouth before my cart and my horse.  They say who’s…is that…Scoots, creaky, dulcet tones and braying are not the same thing.  But I’d say well, yeah, they’re not that different, either.  That’s the sound a horse makes, right?  A bray.

 

I know someone named Bray that I worked with briefly that I liked very much.  Anyway, where was I?  Oh, so if you’re new, let me give you some more information because this podcast is very different.  Understandably, it’s really not for everybody.  I hope it’s for you but it really takes…it’s…what do you call that?  It has a high bar to get used to or something because it’s just not for everybody, so let me give you all the info.  One; I don’t know if any sleep solution is for everybody, you know?  But also, we have a lot of expectations around sleep solution…skeptical things and doubts because you say oh boy, this is supposed to put me to sleep?  I’ve been trying stuff for my whole life and thus far, I haven’t found anything really effective.

 

So, of course you’re gonna be doubtful if you’re…well, there’s this guy; he tells weird stories in a strange voice and I don’t know if they’re exactly stories ‘cause I’m not awake for that part.  At the first, he just talks in circles.  He says they’re ovals and that he moves in ovular ways like BB-8.  He also doesn’t know his BB-8 from his 88 and he talks about that as often as he can.  Also, he just remembered that BB-8 moves in spherical ways which he forgets a lot.  So, those are things that you say, what?  This is a sleep podcast, right?  I say, kind of.  So, that’s one thing, is that this pod…if you’re doubtful or unsure, that’s normal for Sleep With Me.  Or even if you don’t like it, that’s totally understandable, so that’s one thing.  The next thing is that…what is…oh, so this is really a podcast you don’t really listen to.

 

That’s one of the things that could throw you off.  You say well, when’s it get started?  I say well, we’ve kind of already started.  It would be like, for example, if you put a boat…if you had a rowboat and you put it in a…not a pond; one of those concrete ponds, like a retention base…not a retention basin.  I guess I was thinking of a reflection pool or something, like one of those concrete basins that you see at monuments and city parks.  That doesn’t…calling it a pond doesn’t do it.  Basin doesn’t really do it, either.  But what if you took one of those…you put a rowboat in there and then you filled it with pudding or Jell-O.  That would be…what does that have to do with the sleep podcast never getting started?

 

I’d be like well, if you row…I guess the viscosity of Jell-O…I guess it would probably be…right; you’re more of a pudding, particularly maybe a butterscotch pudding or some sort of cream…banana cream.  If you were rowing a rowboat in there…now, I’m no expert on anything so I don’t know if…would the rowboat float?  Good question.  It might not float; it might just…is it floating if it’s sitting on top of it, but it’s…is that floating if it’s not water?  You say well, that’s a good question.  But if you were trying to row that, I don’t know, would it be…I’m guessing it would be harder to row but I mean, I’m probably wrong.  But you…imagining you wouldn’t be going anywhere.  That’s kinda like this podcast.

 

You say well, you don’t get in a retention…you don’t get in a reflection…former reflection basin full of banana cream and butterscotch pudding to go boating around or to go somewhere.  You probably have an ulterior motive.  I mean, what would it be?  Well, I would say hopefully you cleared all the wildlife out of the area or at least did some sort of conscientience…conscientious research.  Oh, it’s taking place in my imagination.  Oh, okay.  So, we did do that.  You’d say yeah, this…it’s a dairy alt…bird-friendly, turtle and bird-friendly, and there’s no fish in there or anything else.  Don’t worry.  We got all those…okay, well, then I can relax.  What are we gonna be doing?  Well, I have an ulterior motive; I’m actually recording a sleep podcast intro.

 

I was hoping for an easy metaphor and I said to myself what would make the easiest metaphor for my sleep podcast?  Then I call…I said hey Jell-O, you look…I heard you wanted to go big on the…one of the social medias.  Aren’t your competitors just really doing it on there?  They said I don’t know.  I said well, if you send me 4,000 packets; 2,000 butterscotch, 2,000 banana cream, a bunch of water or cream alternative, rowboat, oars, life preservers of course, I could probably come up with something.  They said, no thanks.  I said okay, well, I’m gonna do it in my imagination.  I said, hello?  They said shouldn’t you get back…?  I said you’re right.  So, this is a podcast you don’t really listen to, just like you wouldn’t…you wouldn’t do that.  You’d say Scoots, I don’t see the purpose of rowing in pudding.

 

I’d say well, one day you…because there would be.  If we’re…let’s say we’re in another stage of existence, like on the next…one of the grander stages.  You say well, post-earth…my post-earth life…you say…maybe you’re talking to a youngster.  This is true, though; you’ve been there and you’ve returned, so it’s not like you’re making this up.  You say…I say what do I expect out there?  You say well, what’d you do yesterday?  Went rowing in a…up there, they had…they have lakes full of pudding.  Can you eat the pudding?  Can you eat the pudding?  You better…you…oh, of course you can.  Wow.  Can you row through the pudding and sing…?  Oh yeah, we were singing songs, then we had a pudding fight.  Yeah, we were…it was great.  So…oh, but this is only in Scoots’ imagination.  Oh, that’s where we are?

 

Okay, so I can move to that stage of exist…?  Yep, you can, anytime you want.  Okay, so this is a podcast you don’t really listen to.  I guess that’s what I was saying.  It’s also not a podcast that puts you to sleep.  I’m more here to keep you company while you go to sleep, just like we were…row, row, row your boat in some pudding, barely, barely, bare, barely moving because we’re in pudding in a…they say what did you…?  Then some [00:10:00] monumental figure says what’d you do to my reflecting pool and why were you calling it a reflecting basin?  I’d say oh boy, another monument’s displeased with me, too.  So, oh, this is a podcast you…I keep you company while you fall asleep.  That’s why the shows are over an hour, to give you plenty of time to fall asleep and so you know I’m here to keep you company whether you’re awake or asleep, so if you can’t sleep, I’m gonna be here to the very end.

 

So, those are two things.  The other thing that throw people off, new listeners or even regular listeners; regular listeners, what’s up?  Have we ever talked about rowing in pudding?  The Pudding Row; that’s the story of how two pudding companies parted ways but remained in one another’s hearts.  The Great Pudding Row; that’s another imaginary story.  That’s from Harlequin Kitchen, The Great Pudding Row.  I would like to write that one, maybe.  Oh, so structure of the show though, new listeners.  Show starts off with a greeting; friends beyond the binary, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, so you’re welcome in.  Then there’s a listener support, then there’s sponsors that enable the show to be free, then there’s the intro which goes from about minute six or minute eight to minute thirty or twenty or something.

 

I don’t know.  Goes on and on and on, the intro.  The intro serves one purpose, to introduce new listeners to the show but for regular listeners, it just gives them a time to get ready for bed, to start to unwind, to get comfortable.  3% of people skip the intro ‘cause they’re going to sleep.  Some small percentage of listeners fall asleep during the intro but most people use it to wind down and relax while they’re either in bed or in their bedroom or getting ready; doing some sort of wind-down routine.  That’s the intro; it eases you into bedtime, gives you some distance from the day.  You say well, I like to fall asleep…I say okay, for…if you listen all night or you fall asleep fast, you could either…you can do that or you could support the show on Patreon.

 

Those episodes are a little more convenient for those purposes ‘cause they’re repurposed stuff on there.  But yeah, those are…oh, so that’s the intro; gives you some space, basically, to get ready for bed.  Then after the intro is business.  That keeps the show free.  I had like, two sponsors there, I think, and then is the bedtime story.  So, tonight it’ll be our episodically modular series Journey into the Land of Tomorrow.  Listen to some friends play a roleplaying game.  That’s pretty nice.  Then there’s thank-yous at the end.  So, that’s the structure of the show.  The reason I make the show is because I’ve been there tossing, turning, mind racing, trouble getting to sleep, trouble staying asleep.  Yep, I had all those.

 

So, I’m here to help you while you drift off and to keep you company, so that’s…oh, oh, ‘cause I’ve been there, but…and you deserve a good night’s sleep.  Did I say that?  I guess I didn’t say it…I didn’t underline it because it…when I say that, I really mean it.  If you get some sleep, your life’s gonna be a little bit better, right?  A little bit more manageable.  Maybe you start to use the podcast on a regular basis or you develop your own bedtime routine, discover a different sleep podcast, whatever it is.  Maybe you’re in a place to flourish and then our world gets better and better and better the better and better you are.

 

That doesn’t mean that doesn’t come with rainy days.  Holy boly.  Yeah, I couldn’t even get a word out because I said well, what about last…?  I say yeah, you’re right; last night was rocky, huh?  But even if it’s rocky, I’m here to keep you company whether you’re awake or asleep.  That’s my job.  So, I’m glad you’re here.  I work really hard.  I yearn and I strive and I really hope I can help you fall asleep.  Thanks again for coming by and here’s a couple of ways I’m able to do this for you free twice a week.

 

Alright everybody, welcome to our ongoing serially episodically modular series Journey into the Land of Tomorrow which is…the great thing about it being episodically modular is you could listen to this in any order.  This happens to be Episode 11 but if you decide to listen to it, you don’t have to listen to it in order, so I’ll catch you up on everything or the characters will catch you up on everything.  Then Episodes 1 through 10, which you could also listen to any…in any order; you say oh, those are like the prequels.  Oh, that’s cool; I get to go back and watch the prequels now or listen to them and sleep to them.  Journey in the Land…Journey into the Land of Tomorrow is a tale of some friends playing a roleplaying game.

 

They are playing a roleplaying game that takes place in a well-abandoned theme park that’s been closed for years.  They’re a little bit in what could be our future, the game players are, so they’re playing very similar to DnD Fifth Edition.  They’re playing a game together and they’re friends.  They’re having a good time.  What could be more soothing and lulling than adventurers in a theme park?  They’re gonna set everything up but before we do that, our Hollywood announcer is here to bring us into the episode.  Zooming in; normally he drives all the way from LA to the Bay Area just to record this episode, this thirty-second segment.

 

Probably the most generous and patient man I’ve ever come to know but also have very…I say okay, even though you’re not knocking on the door, the fact that you’re standing in front of the door moving, still…my mic still picks up on that.  But he still stays patient.  He keeps coming through; I think it’s just for the listeners and not really for me.  A lot of listeners ask how did you get Antonio Banderas to do the…when did that start and…?  I always say I don’t know.  It was like, I woke up from a dream in a even better dream.

 

So, it’s a man with a dreamy voice, a man with a heart that you dream of.  It’s Mr. Antonio Banderas.  Ah, thank you, Scooter.  Friends beyond the binary, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it’s time for a journey into The Land of Tomorrow.  Let’s roll those dice.  Clickety-clackety, sleepy swoosh.  Thank you, Antonio.  Antonio and I are gonna be playing a new game and I can’t wait to play it, so looking forward to that.  Without further ado, this is Journey into the Land of Tomorrow.

 

Okay, okay, okay, so, I…the game is gonna take its…approximately, it’s gonna take about two more gaming sessions.  I know we have to end at a certain time today.  It’s just hard for me to…I don’t understand what the sudden rush is.  I know there’s a rush…I don’t know.  This is my first time being DM and I really feel like we should just…I thought it was focusing…I’ve been focusing on the process of making the game, though I do know that we’re getting towards the end of the game.  But I don’t know, it’s just, I don’t know.  I’m not very good at making I-statements but I feel on the spot because I’m…I realize that, okay…oh, sorry…Lord von Chill, Grenada, the other players have said that they really wanted the game to get finished as soon as possible.  So, I’m feeling…actually, Lord von Chill, it’s your turn to set everything up.

 

But I can’t make the game go any faster.  But I’m thinking that we’ll be done in two more sessions.  But I can’t guarantee that.  Again, I do have…I’m a Dungeon Master with feeling.  I don’t know if anybody…I’m sure someone said that before; I’m a Dungeon Master with strong feelings or a DM with strong feelings.  Oh, thank you.  This is Lord von Chill here and I’m going to stay in character though other players…there was a cookie-making session and a blind date session outside of this…I live in a world where those things happen when I’m not adventuring.  I feel like something’s changed and shifted.  But so, I’m gonna focus on the game here.  My name is Lord von Chill.  I’m a warrior, some would say.  I’m from the upper crust [00:20:00] but you know, I’m here with my team of adventurers.

 

I’m part of a party of adventurers.  Doesn’t feel like a party right now, though.  But some of the party of my adventurers are Watta, a magic-user, quiet.  Now, Watta happens to be turned into a water-based being.  Watta is our wizard.  Watta is our magic-user, so that’s Watta.  We also have Grenada of Darmok, fleet of foot and nimble of finger.  May be a member of a guild that takes things without permission but on this adventure, Grenada of Darmok has been essential.  Grenada of Darmok is…technically, we work together or is in my employ, but only in my employ as a member of this adventure.  The other members of our party are Eleanor, a Florencian nurse and healer, powerful in healing and powerful in B-A-T-T-L-E is Eleanor.  Joined our party at the last minute.

 

Seemed really cool and great to work with but also seems like suddenly in a hurry to move on from this game and other things.  But all…we can all…we could always count on Eleanor, our Florencian nurse.  Then finally, our other warrior is Zell.  Zell and I have known one another…or actually, outside of this adventure, we did not know each other even though we may have gotten to know each other quite well.  Zell is what we would call a working class warrior, not a gentry of the land like I, but oh, is Zell wise and every attribute you could want in a warrior, Zell possesses.  It makes me speechless just thinking about how much I enjoy…but I know the world changes.  I know Lord von Chill is not perfect to be in a party with or be…work for or many other things.  Oh, the DM is making a face at me though to move forward.

 

Seems like everybody wants to move forward with…but so, who are…who, what, where, when, why?  Who are we?  We’re a band of adventurers tasked with journeying into The Land of Tomorrow, a former theme park, to find a magical portal that connects to another world and to close that portal.  We had to assemble a staff in order to find the portal and we’ve assembled that staff and found all the pieces.  We have a pretty good idea of where the portal is and now we are on the final stage of our journey, closing the portal to save the world from an influx of powers from another magical realm, I believe.  We’re tasked with this adventure by the Wizard’s Council, so that’s who and what.  Where are we?  Oh, Land of Tomorrow.

 

Right now currently we’re hiding from a giant steam being at the end of one of the trains that goes around to transport people.  We camped nearby and we’re looking to go into the…this space adventure ride — I don’t know what the name of it is — because we believe the portal’s inside and we’re about to try to build consensus on our plan so that we could essentially save the world from this force.  I think…is…am I covering everything?  Is everybody…does that sound correct?  Yeah, this is Watta; this…that sounds pretty accurate to me.  I think we just need to discuss what we’re gonna do and also I think we need a little bit more information, but I don’t know.  I want to get the rest of the party.  This is Eleanor; yeah, I think that was a very good recap.  I know it’s tough recapping.  It’s not that I’m in a hurry or…I’m not in a rush.

 

I’m just…we’re near the conclusion of things and I just want to get to the conclusion, I guess.  Sometimes I get a little bit excited and I’m sorry about that.  Then I…so, I would like to focus on what we have to do today on our adventure but I’m having trouble focusing on that.  As a Florencian nurse, that kinda comes with my belief system.  This is Zell; that was fine.  I mean, I think we just gotta get to it.  I don’t know if talking is going to do…make our job any easier, that we have to get in there and we have to do some…what is there to talk about?  Well, this is Grenada of Darmok here, and one thing we could talk about is the fact that we need to get in there, right?

 

And get some more information because I mean from my perspective as someone that doesn’t always follow the rules, we’ll say, I think…I feel like there’s some sort of misdirection going on and that I’m…I don’t know.  I’m feeling something in my gut that says if we rush, are we going to put the mission at risk?  Why…can anybody back me up with how they’re feeling?  Is anybody else feeling that way?  This is Lord von Chill; I am feeling that way.  I feel like we could use some more information.  Do you have an idea, Grenada of Darmok?  Okay, whoa, whoa, whoa, this is Zell; I’m not so sure about this idea because one, well, you two are agreeing but you’re the same person playing two characters.

 

Right, but that doesn’t change the fact the idea…is there…okay, Zell, this is Lord von Chill; I would submit that Grenada try to sneak in with stealth past the giant steam being.  We could double-check with Watta, but I think we’re in consensus that this Mountainous Space Adventure or whatever it’s called, that the portal is in there or beneath it or something.  So, if Grenada can sneak in the front door to see what else is waiting…because the fact that the front door or this plaza of entry to the area is being patrolled by a giant…a steam giant that we don’t seem to have the ability to…okay, here’s the honest thing; what would happen if we did battle with the steam giant?  What does everybody think?

 

This is Watta; I can almost guarantee that it would be very difficult and that not all of us would be ready for the next stage of adventure, so I don’t know if there’s a discussion.  Like, the likelihood of us defeating the steam giant and maintaining the whole of our party is low.  This is Zell; how do you know?  I guess ‘cause you…you’re played by the DM.  Yeah, well, it’s just…I’ve just…I was in…remember?  I analyzed the steam giant.  Okay, so what are…where does that leave us?  Well, this is Eleanor; I would say that we should deduce; okay, so why is the steam…why would the steam giant be here?  What is it protecting if the portal was undiscovered?  Because the steam giant is definitely patrolling the area.  So, I…even though I’m in a hurry, I would say that we…who left the steam giant to guard the front of the building?

 

This is Grenada of Darmok; yeah, I mean, and then why would they want…is it to reduce our party or to prevent anyone from going inside?  Because if it was just to prevent anyone…it was also keeping watch on the area.  It was like, keeping the area secure.  So, again, I propose we roll, we see if I can stealthily go in towards the front, get by the steam giant, get to the entrance, check the entrance for anything hidden that could cause us…that could cause us a unexpected challenge, and then see if I could go any further without…in a quiet, safe manner and if I can hear or see anything.  Is there any reason not to do that?  Okay, this is the DM here; [00:30:00] so, what you’re proposing is you’re gonna try to get past the steam giant, and how do you do that?

 

Okay, I’m gonna go to the end of this, slide down behind the one barrier when the steam giant’s walking away.  Also, the steam giant…we disabled its ability to spot us, so I’ll be very quiet.  That way if it’s walking away, it won’t hear me.  Then I’ll head towards that…the beginning of the queue and I’ll try to use my detecting skills.  Watta, I would wonder if you had anything in your…like, anything in your thing to help boost my skills, detecting skills?  Then if I detect anything, I’ll try to disable it or turn it off and then I’ll try to keep going and see what I could detect.  Does that sound good?  The DM; I understand what you’re trying to do.  This is Watta here; I do have a potion of…that will boost your ability to detect and turn off things that are hidden that would get in our way.  So, yeah, I agree.  Lord von Chill here; I agree.

 

Eleanor here; I agree and…but can we just get on with it?  Zell here; I…yeah.  Let’s go ahead.  Alright, so this is the DM; so, I’m gonna roll everything now.  So, I’m gonna roll your…I mean, your sneaking by the steam bot should be pretty easy, and then you do have a lot of boosts now with that.  So, almost just roll to see how well you do.  Okay, so, you easily sneak by.  You do…you go in the queue and first, you’re very…your height…your awareness is heightened because of the potion that Watta gave you.  You don’t detect anything.  You’ve never felt this apt at your skills.  But then about halfway down the queue, it does…the queue does not have any natural light.  Right where the light changes again…’cause you go through some darkness but you’re comfortable doing that.  Then it changes to a slightly-lighted area again.

 

That already sticks out to you ‘cause you say well, then your eyesight would have to adjust.  You do find some very high-level, unexpected surprises that wouldn’t be good for you there.  Because of your buffs and stuff, you’re very able to disable those things but without that, I’ll be…you are impressed.  You say wow, that would have been…so then you cautiously move again.  You do start to hear…you’re getting more towards the ride loading and unloading area or the end of the queue where it goes into a…so you’re still going down a hall.  I guess I’m giving you too much information.  You do find a couple other things.  Those ones are more alert but you’re able to actually deal with all of those.  You do have one stumble which does five, that one, but it doesn’t make a lot of noise so you get lucky there.

 

It was a little pokey-poo.  Then you’re really stealthing it, and…but you don’t want to go into…you could see that you’re in the area where the kinda…it opens up.  You actually…because you’ve spent so much time in this park, you’ve seen the kinda things…that this is this big space coaster ride.  But you start to listen and you could hear multiple voices arguing.  Can’t quite make out what they’re arguing about and you’re not comfortable getting closer ‘cause you think…you sense that it would risk…I mean, you could go.  I guess I’m…again, yeah, I guess I’m a conflict of interest here.  Do you want to go closer?  No.  I mean, no.  But so, I’m listening as closely as I possibly can.  Am I…what am I hearing?  Just arguing.

 

The voices to you, they’re in a language…common language you’re familiar with and there’s something about the voices that you associate with, I don’t know, you…that you associate with wizards, according to this roll here.  Okay.  In that case, I’m gonna go back and report things to my party.  Okay, so you get back.  No, you go back; no problem, you’re back with your party.  Okay, I’m reporting back to all of you.  I heard some talking and arguing.  It’s also well-protected, the area, so again, it makes me think that they’re…whoever’s there arguing is trying to reduce our party.  Okay, this is Zell, though; then they also think they’re secure though because they think the steam bot and the surprises that you were…you turned off would…so, we should just go straight in.  Yeah, this is Eleanor; I agree.  We could go in.

 

We could either play…we could play it like we don’t…we’re just wandering around?  Or we could go in and try to sneak and then make a move.  Okay, this is Watta; it sounds like Grenada thought they were wizards though, right?  Grenada, a part of you thought they were wizards?  I believe it sounded…the way they were speaking reminded me of wizards, yes.  Okay, this is Watta; I don’t know.  What if this is all a setup that they want us to come in?  What if they expected us to disable the steam giant or avoid it and then avoid the surprises they left and they’re waiting for us, luring us in?  This is Zell; why would they do that?  Lord von Chill here; I mean, they would do that because they…then they could get…we have the staff to close the portal.

 

What if there are wizards looking to open the portal and they’re just waiting for…?  Why don’t we just see if there’s any alternative entrances into the building?  This is Zell; I just don’t think it’s necessary.  I mean, we’re pretty well…they would be expecting…well, I guess you’re right.  I don’t want to go along with it but I don’t want to stretch this argument out.  I guess…okay, let’s…can we sneak past the steam giant and then check for alternative entrances into the building?  But can we do it all on one big roll?  Is that okay with everybody?  This is Lord von Chill; so, the DM’s gonna ask us to explain.  So, we roll to see what other alternative entrances…we try to find all the alternative entrances that are easily accessible.  Like, we go around the whole building if we can, without being detected.  Yeah, I agree with that.  Everybody else?

 

Yeah, that sounds good.  Yes, yes.  Okay, this is the DM; so…okay, give me one second.  Okay.  You don’t really need to roll for this.  So, you’re gonna…well, okay.  Well, let me see if you encounter…okay.  Okay, so are you gonna go around the left or the right side of the building?  It’s a giant circle that goes into a…it looks like an artificial metal and concrete mountain or a pyramid-type shape, or more of a cone, I guess.  Can we go around the right side of the building and head counterclockwise?  Yeah.  Okay, so we head counterclockwise with caution.  Oh, and the DM; sorry, I took it from you.  Okay, so the first door you encounter, there’s exits for people exiting the ride under conditions that wouldn’t be ideal.  The first door you encounter, it’s blocked like it’s been…there’s no way you’re getting through.

 

There was metal and some sort of damage.  Yeah, so that’s impenetrable.  [00:40:00] How…just to make sure, so you’re approaching…what’s the manner you’re approaching these doors?  Very cautiously.  Okay, so the next set of doors you encounter, they haven’t been collapsed or anything.  They’re just a set of double doors.  You know, older, metal, big doors so a large number of people could exit the building…former overgrown path that hasn’t been used in a long time.  Do you want to go up to the doors or what do you want to do?  This is Grenada of Darmok; I think we should sit…can we work this into the rolls that we sit here or could we just imagine that we do that?  Because I know Zell’s in a hurry.  But we would not approach the doors immediately; we would wait and observe.

 

Thank you Grenada, for working that in.  That sounds efficient.  We’ll do that.  Okay, so you’re gonna use that strategy with any door that’s not blocked.  This door…while you wait, you do notice not just one but two over…steaming beings.  These are these…you’re familiar with these from your adventures.  They’re very steamy.  They’re former wizards and they seem to be guarding the doors.  You do know that these steamy beings…two of them is quite a task, that it would be a really big task to get by these steaming beings.  Okay.  This is Zell; so, let’s go to the next door.  Okay.  So, the next two doors on this level are also blocked.  It looks intentional but nothing you can do about it.

 

The other thing you did notice but you didn’t let me know is that you didn’t notice stairs from the second level exits, and there was three sets of stairs in-between…halfway in-between each set of doors that you encountered on the first floor.  That’s your whole circle of the building.  Okay, Lord von Chill here; I think we should just do the same thing on this second floor with caution, right?  But we’ll just do it in the same efficient manner.  Is that okay with everybody that wants to get this over with?  I don’t know, is an adventure…I don’t know, I guess an adventure is a thing that you get to, but I don’t feel like getting it over with.  But anyway, can we…consensus that we do that?  Yeah.  This is Zell; that’s fine.  Grenada; I agree.  Eleanor; that’s…yeah, that sounds good to me.  This is Watta; yeah.

 

Okay, so you go on the second floor.  It’s very similar, though on the other side of the building from the steaming beings, on the one non-obstructed doors are another set of the famous spectators which are different than the steaming beings but you know from those that…you used to be raised by that song as a kid, The One-Eyed, One-Horned Flying Oh Dear, Spectators; Don’t…Please Don’t Go Near Me.  Again, there’s two of them watching that door.  All of the other doors are blocked.  Okay, this is Lord von Chill; did we notice anything going up higher or are there any other doors?

 

Okay, so you did notice a ladder on the back side of the building that goes right up to the roof, but this is where…the first and second floor are cylinders and then this is where the cone starts that makes up the mountain, so you could…there’s a ladder that goes to the top on the back side of the building, or you could go back to the front entrance, or you could decide to do something about one of the two doors that are guarded.  This is Lord von Chill; I don’t see…is there a downside to going up to the top of the roof?  I’m assuming there would be a set of doors up there we could check and just assess things.  Everyone’s quiet, so can we do that?  Okay, you do do that.  On the way up, Eleanor does have a slippy-slide and gets six but other than that, you get to the top.  That was halfway up, so you’re still pretty quiet.

 

On the top, you do see a couple of…you do see some…like, some wizard-type equipment set up on one side and some astronaut…like, what people observe astronomy, the moon and the stars, with next to the wizard equipment, facing off…if you’re facing the ladder you climbed up with, behind…in a swampy field area outside of the theme park wall.  Then you do see a door across the roof from where you are.  Also, it has a further tower with stuff for storms and stuff like that, a weather…former weather station.  Okay, so you see the door and do you want to use the same…?  I’m assuming you want to use the same strategy so I’m just gonna keep going, and as you wait kinda hidden across from the door, you do see…but only one being patrolling it and it’s a big farm wizard, spirit of the big farm wizard; that’s a wizard that passed on to another realm.

 

No longer earthly.  Watta’s pretty familiar with big farm wizard, so you could ask Watta any questions but big farm wizards…former big farm wizards are usually pretty tough, too.  Okay.  This is Grenada of Darmok; can we keep watching to make sure it’s not…it’s alone?  Yeah, it’s alone, so you observe long enough.  Okay, this is Zell; we should have just gone in the front door because this…the steam bot…we already did…everything is the same; to reduce us and wear us down.  Now I’m getting worn down with this repetitive nature of this and I think we should just go back down and go in the front door.  This is Lord von Chill; I think that’s exactly what they want us to do, so I disagree.  Okay, well, then what do you propose?  Well, Watta, what do you…?

 

Out of all of this stuff, Watta, what do you know about this big farm spirit wizard thing?  Well, here’s the good news; Grenada also knows a lot…Grenada, don’t you know something about it, Grenada?  I don’t know.  Do I?  Well, you do because you…it’s part of your back…did you read the backstory I gave you of Grenada of Darmok and the legend of Darmok and Jalad?  Could I roll to remember?  Okay, you roll to remember and part of your belief system, Grenada of Darmok, the Darmokian way, is this long adventure that I know not everybody wants to hear in this myth but part of it that you know is that big farm former wizards and other things…sunlight has a great effect on them.  Now, not like other beings that it’s like, 100% negative, but it would greatly reduce their effectiveness.

 

You do notice that they’re staying in the shadows of the doorway.  Like, of course waiting for someone to come.  So, that’s a piece of information that you have, Grenada of Darmok.  Okay.  So, if we could get that thing to come in the light, we’d be all set.  Yeah, but how will we do that?  This is Zell; so, this would be the most likely…this is Zell; do we know as a party, between all of our knowledge if this…if we did get this big farm spirit into the sunlight, would that be our best bet to get in out of all our options?  Yeah, this is the DM; you could safely say that that would give you a much higher percentage of likelihood.  It’ll still be difficult but not impossible or…yeah.  Okay, then we just need a plan, I guess.  I’m willing to try if we just [00:50:00] can keep moving forward.  This is Watta; I have a plan.

 

Right now it’s very sunny out but what if I cast some magical darkness at a distance?  One; maybe the wizard knows I’m here or not but I could cast the magical distance above a cloud almost, and hopefully the wizard doesn’t have any reason to suspect that, and the wizard’s used to the weather patterns here which we know usually at some point in the afternoon a storm comes, so if we do this now before the storm comes, we could use that knowledge the wizard already has against it to get it out.  So, I’ll do that and we’ll get it out far enough.  Some of you will lure it out thinking…if we reduce the party a little bit, so maybe Zell and Lord von Chill are on one side and then Eleanor and Grenada block the door.

 

Then once we get…lure it out to…you sneak around and then you’ll have it surrounded, and then I can remove the darkness once it’s out there.  Hopefully…does that make sense?  Does everybody sound…?  Yeah, it sounds good to me.  This is…so, this is Eleanor; so, yeah, that sounds like…two…a party of two wanders in.  The being thinks it’s storm time, so it wanders out.  Thinks it’s easy-peasy, then it’s five against one with full sunlight.  Sounds good.  Is everybody…that sounds very efficient, too.  Yeah, I agree, I agree.  Okay, this is the DM then, in an official roll, so I’m gonna roll everything ‘cause I think that was working, so just…and I…okay.  So, this one, its disadvantage is on where it would…it has to take the lower roll when it makes a move against any of you.

 

According to the roll, the…so, the darkness spell works and you two kinda wander…you’re just come out of hiding, basically.  At first it sees you and it just watches you two.  I guess I didn’t really ask how are you behaving?  Well, this is Lord von Chill; I guess we…Zell and I could just talk.  Like, why are you in such a hurry, Zell?  Why can’t we just be on an adventure?  I don’t understand why everything has to be all or nothing.  We’re talking like that, about…I don’t know.  I’ve thought about it the past couple days, Zell, and I’ve thought about adventure and the expectations our society has on peoples’ relationships and that it’s not okay…it seems like you would either…like, you say this works or this doesn’t work.  So, why can’t we just be on an adventure together?  Maybe things happen or maybe they don’t.

 

Okay, this is Zell; that’s fine.  We’re talking about that.  Let’s proceed, please.  Okay, so this is the DM; so, that works.  It comes out and it approaches you.  Then Grenada…so, the order of action’s gonna be Grenada, Zell, then the wizard, then Watta, then Eleanor, then Lord von Chill.  So, but first it works; it sees you talking, it comes out.  It says to you you’re…it’s a mistake being here.  I’ll give you a few seconds to leave and never come back.  You’ve adventured in the wrong place.  Then that’s when Grenada and Eleanor come out on the other side successfully; surprise.  I mean, not a surprise; action, just ‘cause there’s a distance.  Then Watta cuts the darkness off and action begins.  Grenada; okay, I’m gonna use my sneak and roll, so can I do that?  Yeah, so you get a five and then a six, so eleven total.

 

I mean, eleven total.  Zell, what are you gonna do?  I’ll use…because I have a huge bonus on my bow, I’m gonna use my accurate bow.  Okay, but then any…oh, also though, because it’s…I forgot this part; sorry about this.  You’re…also, most of you working at half-strength because it’s a farm-based being.  Everything…all your damage is halved with the weapons you have.  Oh, well, okay, well, I’ll still use my bow because I guess…it would have been nice to know that ahead of time.  Okay, so you get a ten and an eight with your bonuses.  Those both land.  The farm-based being gets a fourteen and a eighteen; it has to take the fourteen.  I’ll just try to run though this and then fill everybody in.  Does that sound good?

 

Do you want to just keep proceeding this…round after round like this and then have me update you in a bit?  Yes, please; this is Zell.  Okay, Watta got a five; nothing happened.  Eleanor; thirteen, successful.  Lord von Chill; a sixteen and a four, so that was one successful.  You’re all using range.  Now, this is Lord von Chill; I think Eleanor and I should go in.  Okay.  Alright, well, okay.  So then, Grenada, eleven, which with the bonus is good.  Zell; thirteen and nine.  Those both land.  It gets a fourteen; again lands on Zell.  Watta gets a one.  Eleanor…oh, this is Eleanor; I think I should start…how much…how powerful is it if it got Zell twice?  Should I use one of my med kits?  Oh yeah, you definitely should.  Sorry about that.

 

I guess I’m a little distracted ‘cause I’m being rushed but yeah, there’s so far been nineteen…wait, it does nineteen?  Yeah, nineteen it does.  Then…okay.  Sorry about that, I got mixed up.  Okay, I’ll go through the first round.  So, Grenada did minus six, Zell did a three and a four total, or a seven.  It did nineteen on Grenada in the first round.  Eleanor; it did nothing.  Oh yeah, Eleanor, you did two of damage.  LVC, you did five.  So, that was twenty total on the farm-based being.  It’s down to forty-seven.  Grenada, you’re down to like, four.  This is Eleanor; if I would have known that, I would have used a full med kit on…the biggest kit I have in that round instead of two of damage on the wraith, or the…okay, well, you’re gonna have to do that in the next round.  I’m sorry ‘cause the math’s already been distributed.

 

On the next round, Grenada did two of damage.  Zell did seven total.  Oh, actually, the…I’m sorry, I was mixed up.  On the next round it missed Zell because it was going after Zell and the…I was assuming Grenada moved due to that much…then Eleanor, so then you do…if you use that one, that’s a plus ten on Grenada.  Then LVC did four.  So that means thirteen total, I think.  It’s down to thirty-four.  Grenada, you’re back up to twenty…in the…around twenty or something, or…yeah.  See, it’s hard for me to focus when I feel like I’m not…it’s not working.  Okay, well, we’re working together.  We’ll work this out.  Okay.  Now can we just do the next round, proceed?  I mean, I think…and use Eleanor’s healing?  Is that Lord von Chill?  Does everybody sound good?

 

Grenada, you kinda stay at the distance and Zell and I will…oh, Zell…I’ll just use…I’ll try to block everybody with my body so it goes after me.  Okay.  So, Grenada; four.  Zell; three and seven.  [01:00:00] The farm-based being got a seven.  Watta; six.  Eleanor; one, so this is not very good rolling around.  Oh, LVC, you got an eleven with your bonus, and a six.  So, that round…oh, Eleanor, you healed.  I’m sorry.  So, now Grenada’s back to normal and you’re out of your superior kits.  I was just assuming you were using those med kits.  I mean, you have the smaller ones, but that did another twelve of healing.  Let’s see, five; so, it’s down to twenty-nine right now.  Grenada, you’re at full strength again.  Okay, let’s just keep going.  Okay.  Grenada does seventeen, so that works.  Zell, you got a five and a seventeen.

 

The farm-based being; a ten.  Watta; a five.  Eleanor; a thirteen.  LVC; seven and twenty, so this is a pretty big round.  Grenada did four.  Zell did three.  Eleanor; five.  LVC; nine.  Then, so it’s down to around sixteen.  But then suddenly the earth starts to shake and you’re all kinda standing speechless because a tower rises in the distance.  Off…right where the telescope is pointing, out of the ground this tower starts to rise.  It’s shaking the entire earth.  It seems like it’s made of stone but it can’t be ‘cause it’s just growing out of the earth.  Watta says that can’t be stone.  This is the magic of the portal at work.  That may even be a being from another realm.  Then you have a debate; that can’t be really a being.  Back and forth like that.  But you say oh boy, this is wild stuff.  What are we gonna do?

 

Also, the farm-based being is watching too, and saying what in the heck?  Okay, this is Lord von Chill; should we make a move or should we try to…Watta, could you try to reason with…this is a former wizard, right?  Maybe you could talk some sense into it.  Yeah, this is Watta.  So, I tell the former wizard hey, this is some sort of…what are you guarding?  This is magic from another world.  If you were a wizard and you believed in magic, you’d let us past to disrupt this.  We’re here to protect our world and our magic, and I use that whole magic…connection to magic.  You’ve done your job.  Now your job is to let us pass, to save the magic in this realm.  The former wizard actually agrees and says yeah, I was tasked with guarding this door.  We say, who tasked you?  Then it disappears and refuses to tell us.

 

Okay, well, that’s not helpful.  Okay, can…Grenada, can you check the door and see if there’s any other surprises?  Yeah, I’ll…so, I’ll check the door and see if there’s any other surprises.  Okay, you do find that this is a stairway down to some catwalks.  You do find a few other surprises that you enable to turn off.  You descend and there’s a catwalk.  In one direction is one of the surprises you actually discovered to the left that is…that goes to stairs that go pretty much down in a…not a circle but in a square all the way down to the bottom.  There was a surprise there that you actually couldn’t disable, so your only choice is to go right.  That’s the top of the ride, so to the right is the catwalks where people would exit the ride out the roof, and then there’s stairs going off of there.

 

Those stairs are blocked too, that would go down to the second-story doors.  So, as you keep going on the catwalk, if you…oh yeah, do you decide to keep going?  Yeah, this is…so, we keep going.  Okay, so as you go along the catwalk, then you get to the top of the ride where you could see…pretty far across from you is where you would come up.  It was like a roller coaster where you’d go up the hill with the chain, chink, chink, chink, and you’d get to the top.  But then for a while they remodeled this ride and it’s kind of a weird 80s, 90s…1980s, 1990s remodel.  So, this top of the ride just kinda had this slow portion that they added on, and this is how the rest of the inside of the ride was kind of themed, ‘cause it had parts that were in darkness but a lot of it was this disco 80s theme.

 

It’s kinda silly but it was really popular where there’s a bunch of animatronics up there and it’s like a set of scenes of a goof…the Goof, which was a popular character encountering other beings from another world that were very much of the 50s through the 80s, kind of green and a little bit different shapes; somewhat liquid, somewhat human, but Goof is teaching them to dance.  Like, that’s how they end up communicating and it kinda plays into the fun soundtrack and disco lights and stuff.  They hadn’t quite got the name of the attraction down but it was kind of building on what they already had and making it more fun and then adding some characters in.  It was actually popular, and they could change it around to different colors for seasons and stuff like that.

 

But this was the tiny bit of story they had on the ride, was that Goof taught the alien beings how to…or communicated peace through dance.  The other thing you notice is that there’s a bunch of cars up here, attraction vehicles, and that they’re held in place by straps.  Some of them have some [inaudible] chemical equipment and stuff that the wizards…they were like wait a second, were they using this?  You see some ropes and stuff that…they must have been pulling the attraction up, and then there’s a bunch of animatronics that are still Goof and Goof’s cousins and the other non…the beings from another planet.  Okay, but other than that, it’s pretty quiet up here, right?  Yeah.  Well, I would think we could make camp here and wait and then decide what we’re going to do.

 

Okay, this is Zell; we can’t do that because something just…I don’t think we can do that.  I mean, we could…I know we’re getting close to time on this session, but I don’t think we can have a break as far as our characters.  So, I think we should come up with a general plan and then enact it at the beginning of next week, ‘cause we have to get down there.  It’s pretty clear there’s wizards down there.  We have these animatronics.  Eleanor; do you have any ideas?  Yeah, this is Eleanor.  So, here’s what I think; I think we use the wrench and the magic and we load up these cars with the animatronics.  There’s how many animatronics?  You said multiples, right?  Yeah, there’s about twelve total animatronics you could use with the wrench.  Okay, and then we have…we can teach them, right?  We learned that.

 

So, we could just teach them to get off of the car and grab whoever’s down there.  Then we come down either on the car or however we’re gonna get down there and then even if it’s…even if they don’t manage to grab whoever’s down there, at least it’ll be a distraction and then we deal with stuff.  So, we have the element of surprise, we have…this has kinda worked for us already a little bit in different ways.  What does everybody think of that idea?  This is Lord von Chill; that sounds like we’re taking a risk but I like that idea.  I think it’s…builds on what we’ve learned and I agree, I guess.  This is Zell; yeah, I agree and I agree that this is an adventure.  I’m sorry that I was rushing and I…this sounds like fun, actually.  So, we’ll have Goof…a dancing Goof and all these other…this is…this sounds like a cool [01:10:00] ride, too.

 

So yeah, I’m excited for next week.  I’m sorry.  This is Grenada; no need to apologize.  I think this is cool.  I’m in agreement.  Watta, how do you feel?  I feel good.  I think also we have the advantage of…we have the staff and stuff.  They don’t know that I’m in a waterskin most of the time, so I think we could also use the fact that there’s less of us or, yeah, I think we can use this to our advantage.  I’m excited, too.  Alright, everybody.  Then, thanks.  This is Lord von Chill; I’m sorry that…well, I don’t…I’m strong in adventuring and I’m enjoying the adventure with all of you.  All of you have been a part of my adventure and I hope you rest well and get some rest so we can return to one another soon.  Thank you.

 

[END OF RECORDING]

(www.leahtranscribes.com)

Notable Language:

• Bray
• Basin
• Clickety Clackety Swoosh

Notable Culture:

• BB-8
• A Goofy Movie

Notable Talking Points:

• A Concrete Basin filled with Butterscotch Pudding
• Rolling for Alternative Entrances
• Goof Communicates Peace Through Dance