Detour 1-5: Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman
Welcome to the Detour! Now that we’ve been playing in our world and with our main characters for a little bit, we discuss how those characters have come into their own, what they think of the mystery in front of them, and just for fun we’ll commit some early plot theories to tape.
-- links --
Website: wanderingpathpod.com
Support our show: patreon.com/wanderingpathpod
-- cast & crew --
Created by Mischa Stanton
Produced by Bex Taylor-Klaus, Lyn Rafil, & Mischa Stanton
Gamemaster: Mischa Stanton
Ibra: Bex Taylor-Klaus
JJ: Lyn Rafil
Gordon: Ian McQuown
Fran: Mayanna Berrin
Sound design: Mischa Stanton
Cover art: Lyn Rafil
Music: Independent Music Licensing Collective
Production & House Manager: Erin Bark
-- about --
The Wandering Path is an actual-play podcast putting complex characters, resonant themes and engaging new mechanics at the heart of immersive adventures. We’re making the stories we want to see in the world, one game session at a time! Join us for our first season, as we dive to the heart of the City of New Prosper: a techno-magical metropolis on the rise, where those who seek to craft themselves a new future will first have to settle the debts they owe the past. New episodes every other Monday.
— Transcript —
[Theme music].
Mischa: Hello!
Bex: Hello!
Mischa: Welcome.
Lyn: Hi.
Mayanna: Hi!
Mischa: to The Wandering Path.
Lyn: Hello.
Mischa: This is the detour where we talk about the show instead of making the show.
Ian: Nice.
Mayanna: Yeah!
Mischa: We talk about the game instead of making the game. We talk about the story instead of making the story.
[Laughter].
Lyn: How meta.
Mischa: Just for a week. Just because, you know, when we're, like, going so hard on story and plot and emotions and feelings, it can get lost that like, we're friends and we just want to hang out sometimes.
Mayanna and Bex: Yeah!
Lyn: It's almost like we like each other or something.
Ian: Meh…
Bex: Weird.
Mayanna: Gay.
[Laughter. Echoes of “gay” from Lyn, Bex, and Mischa].
Ian: Oh, I'm taking it back!
[Laughter].
Ian: That's a party point!
All: Yeah!
Mischa: Okay – okay!
Ian: We'll talk about that later.
Bex: Speaking of party points.
Misha: Okay, so let's, I guess, Ian, let's start there.
Ian: Let's talk about party points now.
Mischa: So, party points. Party points have popped up into this podcast. [Laughter]. They've been a thing, I've been doing them for years. I, I'm constantly thinking about how to reward players for having fun and making jokes in a way that like, I don't want to reward a player's joke with an in character thing.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Mischa: And I don't want to reward an in character thing with an out of character reward, which is why I'm not like a huge fan of inspiration in Dungeons & Dragons.
Mayanna: Yeah, like, DM inspiration?
Bex: Yeah.
Mischa: So, so I, you know, thinking back, we all love Whose Line Is It Anyway.
Mayanna and Bex: Yes!
Mischa: So I came up with this thing, Party Points, where, you know, you toss them off, they're worth nothing. You can just name a number.
Mayanna: They're worth everything!
Bex: Points don't matter, but they do!
Mayanna: They do.
Mischa: Only now, because this is my first game on tape, there's a record –
Mayanna: Yes!
Mischa: – of me giving them out!
Mayanna: Yes!
Mischa: And Ian, you – Remind me Ian, we played a game together before, right?
Ian: Yeah.
Mischa: Did I do party points in that game?
Ian: No. You–
Mischa: Okay.
Ian: This is, this is two separate– you have a Party Points history, and then I have my own–
Mayanna: He's taking the power back.
Ian: –separate thing of it, and we've come together.
Mischa: Oh, do you? Do you want to tell us about your Party Point thing?
Ian: Well, when I was in a super heteronormative fraternity in college.
[Laughter].
Bex: Oh my god!
Mischa: We take back all that “gay” from before.
Bex: What a start.
Mayanna: Straight.
[Laughter].
Ian: At Monday meetings, there was, we had the “ding board”, which was literally someone had, like –
Mayanna: The Cinema Sins board!
Ian: – super glued a ding bell to the top of a clipboard, and then they had a piece of paper, and any time someone said something funny that got a big laugh in the meeting, they'd ding the bell, and they'd keep the record, and we kept the record for the whole year.
Mayanna: Holy, man, wow.
Lyn: Oh, wow!
Ian: So, that's my experience with it, and then you said the word Party Points. And a match made in heaven was born.
Lyn: Oh, I see
Mayanna: Where were you on the board?
Ian: I, you know, my brand of comedy did not–
[Laughter].
Ian: –it was not as popular in that setting.
Mischa: Heartbreaking.
Mayanna: Oh that is so messed up. You deserve to be at the top of the board.
Ian: And I was not.
Bex: You were wasted on the straights.
Mayanna: That is so fucked up!
Ian: I was, I was. You know what?
Mayanna: But the gays love you.
[Laughter].
Mischa: I mean, I also had a similar thing when I was in college. We had this, we had this thing called “the bar,” which was just a bunch of command hooks on our wall and like a golden curtain rod we'd gotten somewhere for five dollars. And anytime someone. you know, said something truly commendable, we would raise the bar.
[Ohhs].
Mischa: And anytime somebody would do something that was just like really shameful, we'd lower the bar.
Ian: That’s amazing.
Bex: Clever.
Mischa: Well, then people would come over to our house for house parties and they'd just be like, “wait, so it's just there?” [Gasps]. “So can I just–” And they just pick it up and lower it. And every single hou– I lived with four other guys. We'd all be like, “you can't just lower the bar for no reason!”
Mayanna: “Somebody has to do something deplorable!”
Mischa: Yeah!
[Laughter].
Mischa: So, so we wrote it into the house rules. One of the house rules became “you can't just lower the bar.”
Ian: Amazing.
Mischa: Which, like, I feel like is good.
Lyn: That’s a good mantra, actually.
[Agreement].
Mayanna: I think that is a good mantra! Yeah, you can't just lower the bar. You have to once you've reached a standard, you– that is the new standard.
Lyn: Yeah.
Mischa: Yeah. All of which is to say, Ian, you were–you've been keeping track of the Party Points–
Ian: Yes.
Mischa: –for this campaign so far. Now, my caveat for you doing this–
Ian: Yeah.
Mischa: –was that I retain the prerogative to cut out anything that earns a Party Point.
Ian: This is true.
Mischa: That said, where are your totals?
Ian: Okay. (Clears throat).
Lyn: This might not be the canon totals, but it's our real lived experience totals.
Mischa: Well, the whole point of party points is that they're not canon. So I do think this is just– I think we just have a total and that's what the total is.
[Laughter].
Lyn: That's so funny.
Ian: Yeah, it's–this is canon, you just haven't heard all of the canon.
Mischa: Yeah, correct!
[Laughter].
Lyn: Yeah, fair – fair, fair, fair.
Ian: Okay, so, I'm starting from the bottom up. I'm taking like, fun Party Points, but I'm also just taking a couple of like, just so we know things are happening.
Mischa: Okay.
Ian: Cleaning items made by Fran so far in the series?
Bex: Yes.
[Giggles].
Ian: Two.
[Laughter].
Ian: Times Mischa's dog tried to be a part of the podcast.
[Laughter].
Ian: Ten.
[Laughter].
Mischa: Whoa! Max high on the leaderboard.
[Laughter].
Lyn: Wow.
Ian: Production manager, Erin Bark, who is the light of our life, one party point.
Mayanna: Nice.
[Oohs].
Mischa: We're gonna get her score up there.
Bex: Yeah.
Ian: We're gonna get her score up there.
Ian: Mischa, Mischa Stanton: two and a half party points.
[Laughter].
Mischa: You know, so that's the other thing about me inventing party points and giving them out as rewards to players – I never get party points! So like –
Bex: You do now!
Mischa: I'm doing good!
[Agreement].
Mayanna: That’s great.
Lyn: Pretty good. How did half happen?
Ian: I can't remember. It was, it was like, it was funny, but it wasn't quite the full explosion of laughter that we would usually get, but it was so clever that I still wanted to mark it in some way.
Lyn: I see, I see.
Mischa: I'll take it.
Ian: It's the only half on the board so far.
[Laughter].
Mischa: I'll take that too.
Ian: I literally made a separate section of a half point.
Mischa: Yeah, excellent.
Bex: That's spectacular.
Ian: I, myself, have two party points.
Mayanna: Nice.
Bex: Nice.
Ian: Bex and Lyn, you have three party points apiece.
Lyn: Hell yeah.
Bex: Eyy.
Ian: And then Mayanna has a whopping seven party points.
[Surprised whoas].
Bex: Yes! That feels correct.
Lyn: That feels right. That feels so right.
Mayanna: Thank you!
Ian: So – we all gotta catch up. We all gotta raise the bar.
Lyn: We gotta raise the bar.
Mischa: Yeah. This week, Mayanna's queen of the party.
[Laughter].
Lyn: Yay! You get a little crown. Here you go.
Mayanna: Thank you! I love my crown. It's so shiny. [Laughter]. I like being funny and I like making people laugh and I do aspire to be funny as much as I possibly can, so I appreciate that.
Bex: You are damn good at it.
Mayanna: I appreciate that.
Mischa: You truly, like, why do you think we asked you to be here? Like, come on.
[Laughter].
Bex: Yes, we like you, but also you're damn funny.
Mayanna: Thank you. That means a lot. Thank you.
Mischa: Okay. Y'all want to talk about this story?
Mayanna: Yes.
Bex: Yeah.
Lyn: Let's do it.
Mischa: Okay, so we've had five episodes in the city of New Prosper.
Mayanna: Hell yeah.
Mischa: How's it feeling?
Mayanna: Great.
Bex: I love it.
Mischa: Yeah?
[Agreement].
Mayanna: It's so fun.
Lyn: It's so good.
Mayanna: Oh my god, it's a dream!
Bex: It’s my favorite!
Mayanna: It’s so fun.
Ian: It's literally a dream.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Mischa: Not to be like begging for compliments or whatever, but like why and how?
[Laughter].
Mayanna: Be specific with your feedback!
Ian: Tell me everything about what you like about my story that I have made for you.
Mischa: Yes please!
Mayanna: Yes. Oh my gosh. The world is so fun. I mean, the world building day where we all got to add something was so fun. And so now it feels very fleshed out. And the characters, the society, the class disparity, the separation. Like there's just so much. It– you feel like you are a small piece of this larger tapestry. And you're, you're very good at encapsulating that.
Mischa: Well, thank you.
Mayanna: You're welcome.
Bex: And I like the mystery. [Agreement]. I honestly have no idea what we're doing right now. And I love that, [Laughter], because you're not making it confusing and frustrating. [Agreement]. You're making it engaging and-and-and curious, you know, and intriguing.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Mischa: Yeah. Thank you. yeah, I mean, we started out that first episode with a banger of a mystery that was not explained at all.
Lyn: Yeah.
Mischa: And then you had to go about your daily lives. So–
Mayanna: Yes.
Bex: I mean, that felt so real though. Like –
Mayanna: That's how it would be if you were a person and you were just about– that you were just living your life and then one day something weird happened.
Lyn: And then suddenly handed a destiny, yeah.
Mayanna: Yeah, like you, too, wouldn't have-- where would you start?
Bex: Yeah. And it's so often we see these fantasy projects where it's like – Oh, big destiny immediately– like, “okay, well, I have to figure out this dream and my destiny.”
Mayanna: Yeah.
Bex: Reality is more like, “okay, that was freaking weird.”
Mayanna: Yeah.
Bex: “And there's so much other stuff I have to do!”
Mayanna: Yeah. In addition.
Ian: This one time– I have this memory that I forgot for years and years and years, and then remembered years later.
Mischa: Oh?
Ian: I walked out of my parents house, I was taking out the garbage at night and I looked up in the sky and there was… a UFO in the sky.
Bex: Yeah.
Ian: It was a glowing disc that was like super high up, bright white light, spinning rainbows, just sitting there at night.
Mayanna: Wow.
Ian: And I looked at it for a minute, and then my brain went, “I don't know what the fuck that was,” and then just continued to take the trash out and forgot that it happened for years.
Mayanna: Wow.
Ian: Cause I was, I just couldn't process it.
Mayanna: Yeah, you're like, “I can't do that. I have laundry to do.”
Ian: So I was like, “back to normal things. (singing) Boop a doop a boop a boop a doo.”
[Laughter].
Mischa: Yeah, I mean, that's kind of what I was going for. Like, I was trying to imagine like, yeah, “what if I found out one day for certain that I had a magical destiny and then still had to wake up and go to work.”
Mayanna and Lyn: Yeah!
Mischa: Like, I don't stop having a job or needing to pay rent because I have a magical destiny.
Mayanna and Lyn: Yeah!
Bex: Real quick to go back to an earlier thing Mayanna said, like, being part of the world building makes it feel so much more personal, and, I don't know about the rest of y'all, it makes me feel so much more connected to the world.
[Agreement].
Mayanna: Yeah.
Ian: Yeah.
Mayanna: Like, it feels like a place that's lived in.
Bex: Yeah.
Mayanna: That we are familiar with. Cause it's like, yeah, you get dropped into a campaign and you are learning about the environment as the DM is giving it to you.
Bex and Lyn: Yeah.
Mayanna: But by it being collaborative, yeah. It's like, well, I at least know my area.
Lyn: Yeah.
Mayanna: Which is how it would be if you lived there.
Lyn and Bex: Yeah!
Bex: And of course Mischa is still like surprising us with new things.
Mayanna: Absolutely! Of course.
Bex: As a brilliant Dungeon Master is going to do.
Mayanna: As always, absolutely.
Mischa: Aw shucks.
Bex: But like being part of the base–
Mayanna: Yeah.
Bex: –the core of it feels really good.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Ian: I also just have to say that I love that you made the elves French.
[Laughter].
Mayanna: Yes!
Lyn: That feels so right.
Mayanna: Canonically French.
[Agreement].
Mischa: Yeah, so I'll talk about that a little bit.
Mayanna: Yes, please.
Mischa: Because that's one thing we really didn't do in the world building was like populating the–
Ian: Who's French and who's not.
Mischa: Yeah, who's French and who's not. [Laughter]. Populating, like, the sort of racial diversity of the world, and so when we were making characters, you know, two of you came back with humans, one person came back with– Bex, you and I talked about doing Hexblood, but like, it comes out in our world as human-ish.
Mayanna: Mhmm.
Mischa: And, Lyn, you're the only person really playing a non-human.
Lyn: Mhmm. Still part human, but…
Mischa: Yes. So I didn't really know what exactly our world was going to look like. I was like, well, it's mostly human and dwarves also exist. And, you know, we're all, you know, tied back to J. R. R. Tolkien. And, if there's dwarves, there's elves. [Agreement]. And, yeah. And at that point, I was like, “well, do we want to just do every D&D race?” So that's kind of where I went, is like, I didn't really want to do tieflings and goliaths and halflings and all that stuff.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Mischa: I wanted to keep it a little more contained than that.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Mischa: And we already had dwarves. I was already kind of planning to use elves, especially for people who were longevitous. And–
Ian: Nice word.
Mischa: Thank you.
Lyn: Put that in your SAT prep book.
Mayanna: Yeah, seriously.
Mischa: So we had humans and two races whose lifespans are longer than humans. I was like, that's an interesting dynamic, because – human in the book, in fantasy world, kind of wants to be in the middle of a melange.
Lyn: Mhmm.
Mischa: So I was like, well, there's two races with longer lifespans. I'll just make two races with shorter lifespans and humans will be in the middle, which is kind of where saurids and capras came from.
Mayanna: Yeah. The deer folk, right?
Mischa: Yes. We haven't had a ton of deer folk. I think the only real deer person we've had is Nora, the receptionist at the clinic.
[Agreement].
Bex: She's lovely and Scottish.
Mayanna: Yes.
Bex: We love her.
Mischa: And something that hasn't really come up yet is that like, objectively, you guys are almost the same age, but she is – she matures more rapidly, so she's like middle aged for a capra.
Mayanna: Oh, wow.
Bex: Same with the saurids?
Mischa: Yes, same with saurids. That's, and we'll talk about this in a little bit, but that's part of why Ravona called you guys children.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Lyn: Mhmm.
Mischa: It's because she is actually a lot closer to children than you might think just to look at and talk to her.
Mayanna: Interesting.
Ian: Wait, wait, wait, wait–
Bex: More closer to adulthood?
Ian: She’s closer…?
Mischa: Because, she is objectively younger, but further along in her maturity.
Mayanna: Oh, okay. So she's been on the earth for less years, but those years are more mature for her.
Ian: Oh yeah, yeah.
Mischa: But because of their life cycle–
Ian: Shorter life span, I see.
Mischa: –is further along in their life cycle.
[Agreement].
Ian: Right, yeah. Old man fly: one year old.
Mischa: Yeah! So I've been playing with that a little bit, and then, you know, we're in an audio medium, so I had to come up with some way to differentiate these races, and I gave all elves a French accent for some reason.
Mayanna: I love that.
[Laughter].
Mischa: French is not even like, one of my pocket accents, I feel like.
Ian: Which is so–
Mayanna: Really?
Ian: –which is why it's so funny to hear you do it.
[Stereotypically French “hon hon hon”s]
Mischa: It's– I did take French in, all through grade school, so like.
Lyn: Yeah, I took like seven years of French.
Mischa: Yeah!
Mayanna: Seven?! Oh my god.
Bex: Mischa, your French accent isn't bad–
Mayanna: Yeah, it's good.
Bex: –it's just funny.
Ian: Yep.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Mischa: Oh, great, thank you. Yeah, I will, and what's great about it is that–and we haven't even gotten to this much either–but so far all the elves we've met do have positions of authority over you guys, and they know stuff that you don't. So like, to play them as these like, keeping it close to the chest–
Mayanna: It’s very French.
Mischa: –and also with this accent on top of it. Like it is really fun.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Lyn: Yeah.
Mayanna: Amazing.
Mischa: I felt like it fit.
Mayanna: No, it fits great.
[Agreement].
Lyn: It fits well.
Mischa: Even though his name is Thorgunn.
Mayanna: Thorgunn.
Ian: If I could go back and change anything, it would be picking a less Viking name for Thorgunn.
[Laughter].
Lyn: No, I think it works so well.
Bex: It does.
Mayanna: I think it works fabulously.
Lyn: It feels so… What's the word that means, something out of time?
Ian: Ageless?
Lyn: Anachronistic!
Mayanna: Ohh.
Ian: Anachronistic.
Mayanna: Anachronistic!
Lyn: Put that in your non-SAT prep book. [Laughter]. Are the ACT's still a thing? I took the ACT.
Mayanna: I had to take both of them, and I was bad at both of them.
[Laughter].
Bex: I didn't go to college.
[Celebratory cheers].
Ian: (Imitating a machine gun) Brrrah. Brrrah. Brrrah. Brrrah. Brrrah. Brrrah.
[Laughter].
Mayanna: (Imitates a party siren).
Mischa: So let's talk about that a little bit.
Ian: Not going to college?
[Laughter].
Mischa: Well, some of you are going to college.
Bex: That's why– that's another thing that I'm really loving about this. It's like, I get to go to college.
[Laughter].
Mayanna: How’s it going?
Bex: Well, okay. Here's the thing. I did Duke TIP when I was a kid. So I took criminal trial advocacy one summer.
Mischa: (Surprised recognition) Oh!
Bex: Yeah. So this is really fun for me. Like this is actually throwing it back to my childhood. My only experience with college is in criminal trial advocacy for four weeks, one summer when I was 14.
Mayanna: Incredible.
Lyn: I love that.
Bex: Yeah.
Mischa: Oh my god.
Bex: So this is–
Mayanna: Iconic behavior.
Bex: Yeah, this is really fun for me. This is– the only time I went to college was for a summer and in this game. And it's both for, you know, like the same sort of thing, that sort of idealistic version of wanting to help through a system that's put in place that's definitely broken, [hum], but thinking that this is the only way to help and wanting to be part of it.
Mischa and Mayanna: Yeah.
Bex: Cause that was a big thing for me as a kid.
Lyn: Yeah.
Mischa: I would love to talk about that next. So one of the big vibes we wanted to bring to this game was sort of like figuring out where you exist within systems with positions of authority, what you owe to those people and things. And we designed characters towards that goal, but designing a character and playing a character for five episodes, very different things.
[Agreement].
Lyn: Mhmm.
Mayanna: Absolutely.
Mischa: So, so I would love to talk about how your characters are feeling now that you're living inside of them.
[Pensive hums].
Lyn: Well, for JJ, I had a pretty concrete idea with what I wanted, and I think that, like, a lot of that still rings true. But I do think, like, some of the stuff, when thinking about, oh, like, the magical destiny and stuff, is that JJ didn't feel like–and to some degree still doesn't feel that way, of, like–JJ didn't feel like the destiny applied to her until it started affecting the people around her.
Maynna: (Understanding hum).
Mischa: Yeah.
Lyn: As soon as she realized, like, oh, like, Samira–something's up with Samira, or like, my friends, these party members, like, that Paz got injured.
Mischa: Yeah.
Lyn: Or like, that this was at my dad's work site.
Mischa: Yep.
Lyn: Like, those are the things that, like–
Mayanna: Yeah.
Lyn: I think are the things that are causing her to act?
Mischa: Yeah.
Mayanna: Stepping up.
Lyn: Which is surprising to them, for sure. But that's like, part of the tension that I wanted to create, and it feels like, that's the thing, it's like, oh, this feels like it's building a home within this character. That makes a lot of sense in those ways of like, oh, it's rooted to these people, rooted to these connections that I'm like, okay, the trajectory of this character is transforming a little bit in a way that I really, really like.
Mischa: Cool.
Bex: I love JJ.
[Laughter].
Mayanna: JJ’s delightful.
Bex: Yeah.
Mayanna: They're so self conscious.
Lyn: I know they became so much more awkward than I initially set them out. But I was like, “no, no, no. That, that was the right call.”
Mayanna: Yeah.
Bex: Yeah.
Lyn: They are deeply actually very anxious.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Bex: And it's, it's really fun to watch the way you're playing it.
Lyn: Aw, thank you.
Bex: The trajectory you're taking JJ on with that, like, visceral response to danger being fight rather than flight, which is what they expected. And I love having you play with that, and I'm loving watching it continue.
Lyn: Aw, thanks.
Mischa: I do, I mean, this is just maybe a casual observation, but like, for a long time, JJ kind of assumed that the response would be flight, and then that magical destiny dream happened–
Lyn: Mhmm.
Mischa: –And like, the dream wasn't wrong to pick JJ, but JJ has to kind of figure that out. [Agreement]. You know, like, obviously there was something that whatever cosmic force sent you guys that dream sees in you.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Lyn: Yeah.
Mayanna: And also in class, in that scene where you're in class with Samira, where I think you get called on in class, and like, you do know the answer. Like, I think it– I've known so many of those kids who are like, they do know it, and then they're like, “no,” and I'm like, “You do know it, though. Like, what's the problem?”
Bex: “You're so capable!”
Mayanna: Yeah!
Lyn: And that's also something so interesting for me, like, or at least for JJ. Me? (Word jumble while resetting).
Mayanna: It's all blending together!
Lyn: Bleed, it's happening! [Laughter]. But like JJ seeing their friends, and they fully believe that all of their friends are more capable than them.
Mayanna: Hm.
Lyn: Like, they believe that Ibra's, like, certainly more combat capable. Fran is–
Ian: Well, they are.
Lyn: Yeah.
[Laughter].
Mayanna: Yeah.
Lyn: Fran is– should be the engineer, like, and is like, “why am I in engineering school when Fran can just do this shit?”
Mischa: Yeah.
Bex: Yeah.
Lyn: Like, Gordon is so charismatic, and, like, I think JJ feels like they are the weakest link.
Mischa: Which is so interesting to me because I feel like you've had some of the most impactful combat turns in the show.
Bex: True.
Mayanna: Agreed. Agreed. And hot take, leaders tend to not think of themselves as leaders.
Lyn: Truly the case.
[Laughter].
Bex: And the best leaders lead from inside the pack.
Mayanna: Exactly.
Mischa: What's that like, Lyn?
Mayanna: Yeah?
Lyn: (Sound of deep discomfort).
[Laughter].
Ian: Skin crawling.
Lyn: Yeah. Me and JJ? Wanted… Vomit.
[Laughter].
Bex: And that's the thing about Ibra that I wanted to design was someone who's designed, who is literally manufactured to be a leader, who doesn't want to be a leader, who just wants to be part of the world.
Mayanna: A protector. I feel very protected by Ibra.
Bex: Yay!
Mayanna: I feel like they’re always– They're always jumping in there taking care of stuff. It's very nice.
Lyn: Yeah.
Mischa: Yeah. I mean, I don't know what other class we possibly could have picked for Ibra other than warden.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Bex: Truly.
Mischa: Protects everyone forever.
Mayanna: Yes.
Ian: Yeah.
Mayanna: It's really great.
Ian: Yeah. Especially our party currently as what it is. [Agreement]. Like, it's just really nice to have someone who's like, “okay, cool. We're going to throw you at the big thing.”
[Laughter].
Lyn: Yeah
Bex: And it's been really fun. Cause like, I, I get to throw Ibra into these situations that they aren't sure they can handle, and they can to an extent, but they still need their team.
Mayanna: Absolutely.
Lyn: Mhmm.
Bex: And they know it.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Bex: And they, they don't feel afraid to have, like, these people behind–like, intrinsically, maybe it was the dream, maybe it was the first combat, but at no point has Ibra felt any sort of question about whether this team would have their back.
Mayanna: Yeah, absolutely.
Ian: Sure.
Lyn: Yeah, I think what JJ, like, with everyone too, is JJ really loves her friends largely because like, “oh, all of these people are so comfortable taking initiative.” And like, I think when we were talking about like backstory and stuff like, Ibra is the one that JJ has known the longest out of the party from just being in school together. And I think like that was the thing that drew JJ to Ibra is like, “oh like yeah, you're from Uptown or whatever like, I shouldn't like you,” like, probably was really skeptical of you for a while, but like, saw that you were willing to get your hands dirty, that you stood up for people and was like, “oh shit, like, that is a really commendable person, that is the kind of person I want to be around, and like, this person is unafraid of taking that initiative,” and then while meeting Fran and Gordon, like, that is, I think, the common thread between specifically the three of you that JJ's like “I want to do that, too, and I think these people will push me to do that.” So like when Fran is like “say it with your ches.t”
Bex: Yeah!
Mischa: Yeah!
Lyn: Like JJ does take that to heart. And is like, “Okay, you’re right.”
Mayanna: Oh good!
Bex: Oh god. Fran is the best cheerleader.
Lyn: I know! Like everyone needs a Fran.
Mayanna: Aw!
[crosstalk agreement].
Bex: Everyone needs a Fran!
[excited agreement].
Ian: (Singing) You got a Fran in me.
All: Ey!
Mischa: And I do think that like– If this is how JJ was feeling as you were becoming friends with these people, then to appear and the dream is the three of them and you.
Lyn: Yeah.
Mischa: You know? And, like, Bex, you said it in that very first episode that, like, just by being drawn into it, the four of you being drawn into it, like, it makes you feel like you're a part of something even if you don't know what it is.
Bex: Yeah.
Mischa: And so, like, for JJ to see all of these people with these commendable qualities and then to be among their number implicitly without equivocation, that's the word I was looking for, without, without, like, any doubt, you know, like, it's a dream. It's magical. And you are there with them.
Lyn: Mhmm.
Mischa: You are among their number.
Mayanna: (Thoughtful hum).
Mischa: It's just like a beautiful thing.
Lyn: Yeah.
Ian: I know we've gone over this, but remind me again. How old is everyone –ish? Are you guys college age?
Bex: Yes.
Lyn: Yeah.
Mayanna: Yeah. 20s.
Lyn: Like early 20s.
Mischa: I think, yeah, we went with like some early-mid twenties energy when we were all making characters, I think.
Mayanna: Mhmm
Ian: But that, but that age, that sort of like not quite kids, but not quite adults.
Lyn: Yeah.
Mayanna: Yeah. Ah!
Mischa: Yeah.
Mayanna: Whew.
Bex: That, like, those last couple of years of your brain forming sort of situation.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Mischa: Not a girl. Not yet a woman.
[Laughter].
Bex: Yeah! Very much so.
[Laughter].
Bex: I love this.
Ian: Oh my lord.
[Laughter].
Mischa: Ian, talk to me about Gordon a little bit.
Ian: The build
Mischa: Because I, like, you came in and said, “I am going to play Tombo from Kiki's Delivery.”
Ian: I know.
Mischa: But now Gordon's his own guy. So like, I do want to talk about that evolution a little.
Bex: Yeah!
Ian: I know this is what I was thinking about. It's so hard for me to balance, because I think this has happened in all three games that I've played where I've picked a really, really strong personality type that wouldn't, you wouldn't think it would be beneficial to like moving the game or the story forward, right?
Mayanna: Mhmm.
Ian: Like I played a really, really big, dumb barbarian Dragonborn –
Bex: Love those.
Ian: –in my first campaign. Slate, that–
Mischa: Yeah, we played– you were an earth genasi.
Ian: Yeah, yeah, and Slate was just like such a weird, funny dude. And then I wanted to basically play Tombo in this campaign, but I always have to–I'm always balancing that with my own super, super type A personality.
Mischa: Sure.
Ian: So that in those moments where this character that I want to be a little bit less– impactful, maybe, is in a mystery circumstance, right? There was that moment last episode where you were like, “I'm so glad you guys decided to walk over to the hole because I had a thing there.”
Mischa: Yeah.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Ian: Yeah, so, cause there’s always–
Mischa: As soon as we shut the recording off, I was like, “Oh my god, if you guys hadn't looked at what was in the hole, I would have been so sad.”
[Laughter].
Ian: Right! So it’s always a–
Bex: We would be lost without you.
Mayanna and Lyn: Yeah.
Ian: So it's always a balance, right?
Mayanna: Yeah.
Ian: And it ultimately changes the character from the original energy that I want into this new thing. Which is cool!
Mischa: Well, that's what we're here to do.
Ian: Yeah.
Lyn: Mhmm.
Mischa: Like, you're not playing Tombo. You're playing Gordon. Gordon's a different guy.
Ian: Right. Right right right right. Right.
Mischa: And so that's what I'm interested in. I mean, maybe, maybe Gordon's smarter than he thinks he is.
Ian: Yeah, exactly.
Mayanna: Yes!
Lyn: Well, Gordon has the highest intelligence out of the whole party.
Mischa: Yeah, exactly.
Ian: Oh, that's a great point. That's a great point. I didn't think about that.
Lyn: Even mechanically, like, Gordon, I think, is, yeah, like, that personality– or that almost caricature of that personality– isn't the same as like, what's actually happening, and that's not necessarily, like, untrue of real people, right? Or untrue of other characters.
Ian: Right.
Mayanna: Also. Tombo in Kiki's Delivery Service is really smart.
Lyn: Yeah!
Mayanna: He's super observant. He's interested in Kiki.
Mischa: He almost makes that propeller bike.
[Laughter].
Mayanna: He almost makes that propeller bike! Like–
Bex: Look, if he’d had a Fran he would have been able to do it.
Lyn: That's so true.
Mayanna: He's like, he’s not as he's not as small minded as some of the other people in that world. And I also think Ian is a player, you're very very smart.
Bex: Oh yeah.
Lyn: Mhmm.
Mayanna: You know, so I think like that will inevitably bleed into Gordon because like you have good instincts.
Ian: Yeah,
Mayanna: So I think those feed into him very nicely.
Ian: Thank you, I appreciate that.
Mayanna: You’re welcome!
Ian: Yeah, the past two episodes felt a little bit more like detective Gordon Baker.
Mayanna: Yes!
[Agreement].
Ian: Detective Baker.
Bex: Detective Baker.
Ian: Which is fun and and feels–
Mischa: now I'm just imagining a police officer like sprinkling flour to find footsteps.
[Agreement].
Bex: Wait we have to do that at some point.
Lyn: We have– I literally learned how to take fingerprints using cocoa powder.
Ian: Did you really?
Mischa: Nice!
Lyn: Mhmm.
Ian: Wow.
Lyn: Weird thing that happened in my life.
Mayanna: (Whispering) That’s awesome.
Mischa: Remind me not to touch anything else in your house.
Mayanna: That's so funny.
Lyn: You can touch anything in my house.
Mischa: Not if I don't want proof. [Laughter]. I'm trying to get rid of the evidence.
Lyn: You should have thought about that before!
[Laughter].
Mischa: Damn it!
[Laughter].
Ian: Mayanna, what about you? What's going on for you?
Mayanna: Oh my gosh. Well, when I first moved to LA, I was working at a movie theater. And I –
Ian: For real real? Not for play play?
[Laughter].
Mayanna: For real real. I think I brought a lot of those experiences. I also worked in retail for a long time.
Lyn: Oh yeah.
[Agreement].
Mayanna: And so I remember that when I first, it was like my first job out of college, I was interviewing for an associate level position. And the guy who was interviewing me was like, “how do you feel about management?” And I was like, “I feel great.” And he goes, “really?” And I was like. “Yeah”. And he's like, “have you ever done management before?” I'm like, “no, but I, I think I can figure it out.”
[Laughter].
Bex: Amazing.
Mayanna: So I think like working in retail spaces, working in customer service, I was also a hostess at a restaurant. So I think like, I brought a lot of that, and I think that in those spaces you do start to just identify things that you can tell don't work–
Lyn: Yeah.
Mayanna: –and are silly, and you may not always be able to fix them, but I think, like, that was a big impetus for Fran. And then I think also, like, I'm playing in a lot of, like, high fantasy, like, I'm playing, like a noble woman for the first time in a home game, and I'm playing a girl at, like, a magical college in a different game, so I think I just really wanted a very grounded…
Mischa: Yeah.
Mayanna: Gal! I just, yeah.
Mischa: Yeah. And, and we also, you know, talk about picking the right class for the right character.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Mischa: What seems so fun to me about craftsman is that, like, even when you're doing magical stuff it's all in physical items.
Mayanna: Yes.
Mischa: It's not like– you're just putting stuff together.
Mayanna: I'm just trying to build. I’m just trying to build.
Mischa: You really get your hands into it.
Lyn: Build a better world!
Mayanna: (Mumbling) Building a lil world.
Lyn: Like, that's the big thing.
Mayanna: Yeah. So I really adore her. I don't know what my direction, I think was, like, our– like, when I– when we first started playing in the first day, I was still trying to, I think, like suss out what her personality or her feel was.
Mischa: Hm.
Mayanna: But yeah, like, just identifying the strengths in the other characters and just being excited by the things that everybody else is doing, I think, like, informed me how she best can support.
Mischa: Well, there was this great moment I really loved from the first episode, which I, like, sort of found in the edit, I guess.
Mayanna: Oh!
Mischa: Where, and I, you know, through use of music–and shout out to the Independent Music Licensing Collective for their amazing quality selection for an affordable price.
[Cheers].
Bex: We love you.
Mischa: I like took this cue, and I really tried to make a moment out of it because it really moved me. When Fran is talking to, I think she's talking to Morga in Boggins, where she's like,
Mayanna: Oh, Cecilia, it's Cecilia.
Mischa: Or Cecilia, yeah, where she's like, “I look around and everyone's not improving things they could be.”
Mayanna: (Appreciative hum)
Lyn: Mhmm.
Mischa: And like, I feel like that was really core to my understanding. I really identified with Fran in that moment, too.
Mayanna: Oh, thank you! I just remember, when she was talking to Cecilia, and Cecilia's like, “I'm scared all the time.”
Mischa: Yeah.
[Agreement].
Mayanna: And I was like. “I couldn't tell.”
[Laughter].
Bex: And I love, like, how you listen. Like, you and Fran, you both listen and you bring it back. Like you never throw anything back in anyone's face. You like, you bring it back in a gentle way, in a way that's like healing and, and, and progressive for…
Mayanna: Aw, that means the world to me. Thank you.
Lyn: One of the really interesting things like yeah, like. Everyone, like, could use a Fran, for sure. And it's like, one of the things that I've noticed, kind of listening back at things, is that every time we're complimenting Fran, Fran's not there.
Mayanna: (Gasp) Aw!
Lyn: And I think that's actually something that, like–
Bex: (Whispering) Wow.
Lyn: –I don't know, like, I, as a player, noticed that, and I was like, should that be something that's, like, in game, an important aspect? Like, where we all know, so surefire that, like, Fran's fucking awesome, really goddamn capable, so fucking smart, like, and so great at being everyone's cheerleader–where, like– Lyn, as a player is like, but is– “does Fran get some of that back?”
Bex: Yeah.
Mayanna: Aw! That’s so sweet!
Lyn: That to me is kind of a really interesting dynamic that I think was accidental, but I think is really interesting. Where I'm just like–
Mayanna: Hm. That’s very astute, I didn't even realize that.
Lyn: Well, we're all in the same room together when these things happen.
[Laughter].
Lyn: That's the weird thing.
Mischa: No, there is, there's a couple moments where, before the four of you guys get together at Boggins in that first episode, where I think, like, Ibra and JJ were talking about, like, “that dream was crazy, but also that armor was rad. Fran probably made it. She’s so cool.”
[Laughter].
Bex: Yeah!
Mayanna: Yeah, I remember that, yes.
Mischa: Yeah, and you're right, that does come up, like, a lot.
Lyn: Yeah! There's a lot of moments where, like, just various comments of, like, “Fran's fucking great at everything.”
[Laughter].
Mischa: And not to be earnest on main or anything.
Lyn: Yeah?
[Laughter].
Bex: That’s my job.
Mischa: But I also identify with Fran in that a lot. [Laughter]. In that, like, she's so good at the things she's passionate about, but she can't make that into her job just yet.
Mayanna: Yep.
Lyn: Mhmm.
Mischa: And so she keeps getting these other jobs that she's also losing kind of through no fault of her own.
Lyn: Yeah.
Bex: Yeah.
Mischa: Just by the state of the world taking the jobs away.
Mayanna: Which is very poignant for the moment in time we’re recording this podcast.
[Laughter].
Lyn: (Imitates party siren).
Mischa: Yeah dude! Yeah!
[Laughter].
Mayanna: Yeah, yup! This exact moment in time.
Mischa: It's March, 2024.
[laughter and groans].
Mayanna: I heard a quote from a friend, mostly in terms of my own industry, but “survive till ‘25.”
Ian: Holy fuck.
Mischa: Yeah.
Bex: Yeah.
Lyn: Wow.
Ian: Holy fuck.
Mischa: I heard, you know, I heard the same thing recently.
Lyn: I was just talking to my friend that I ran into at a coffee shop this morning. She also works in marketing and we're both like,
Mayanna: Yep. This year’s–
Lyn: “So… we're not working, right?” And she's like, “yeah, we're not working.”
Mayanna: Yeah. Yeah.
Bex: Survive to ‘25.
Mayanna: Survive to ‘25.
Lyn: She's like running her little pottery pop up in the coffee shop by us–
Mayanna: Yeah!
Lyn: –and she's like, “so I've been doing this more.” I'm like, “that's great!”
Mischa: Yeah, dude. I like asked four of my friends. I'm like, “Hey, none of us are doing a ton. You guys want to make a D&D podcast together?”
[Laughter].
Mayanna: I was like, “yes, I do.”
Bex: Oh, those lucky fucks.
Mayanna: I’m not doing anything else! I really do.
[Midroll music].
Mischa: Hey there, it’s Mischa. This is the rest stop. Come take a break beside the path with me, just until we catch our breath.
I hope you’re liking this detour! We thought it would be fun to change up the format a little. Try something a little different. I promise we won’t have too, too many. Every few episodes or so, maybe? We’re still working it out.
But one thing we definitely want to include next time is your listener questions! Please, we’d love to hear from you. If you have any burning questions about the characters, the story, the plot, the game mechanics. Hell, even questions about us! No question too big or too small. Please submit them to us. Hit us up on social media. We’re @wanderingpathpod on Instagram, @wanderingpathp on the artist formerly known as Twitter, or you can use the easy contact form on our website, wanderingpathpod.com.
And if you sign up with us on our Patreon, you’ll receive a special secret code to include in your submission to jump your question to the top of your queue. That’s right! Our patrons get priority Q&A access! That’s at any level, five dollars and up. And if you’re able to help us out even more, you can also get access to ad-free episodes, blooper reels, stat blocks, game mechanics, and more, all by signing up with us at patreon.com/wanderingpathpod.
Thank you so much to our newest patron, Charlotte A, as well as our Voyager level patron JWX, whose questions are always answered first. Though, maybe in the form of a cryptic riddle or a creepy nursery rhyme or something.
Okay, that’s it for now! Let’s get back on the path, and get back to the show.
[Midroll music fades out].
Mischa: So, like, and we don't have to spend a ton of time or any time in this section at all, but is there anything about the production that you guys have questions or thoughts or comments about? I know, like, Bex and Lyn, you're producing with me–
Lyn: Yes.
Mischa: And you guys are doing a great job.
Lyn: Thank you!
Bex: Thanks!
Mischa: And having very thoughtful notes and it's a wonderful collaborative process. I think, especially for Ian and Mayanna, but for everyone really, like, do you have any thoughts about the difference between recording it in this room and then hearing it at the end?
Mayanna: Ooh, I'm always curious about writing process.
Ian: (Appreciative hum).
Mayanna: So like, what is your, what is your story crafting process?
Mischa: Oh my God. Great question. One of the best things about doing an improv storytelling podcast is you don't have to write things.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Lyn: Mhmm.
Mischa: I've been making, scripted audio fiction for– God, almost 10 years.
Mayanna: Mm=hmm.
Bex: Woohoo.
Mischa: Oh my God.
Ian: Yeah, baby!
Lyn: (Imitates party siren).
Mischa: And, like, one of the biggest stopping points is waiting for scripts to arrive so we can go into production
Mayanna: Mhmm, yeah.
Mischa: And with this, we're recording in two weeks and you know, I'm gonna have something.
Mayanna: Yeah. But do you have a sense of ahead of the day of where you would like the story to go? Like, do you, when we record, do you go like, “okay, I think we're gonna hit these beats today.”
Mischa: Yeah. Good question. Thank you. I do have that.
Mayanna: Hmm.
Mischa: I have like, generally a couple of set pieces that I, that I will bring you to–
Mayanna: Mhmm.
Mischa: –and populate them with characters and let you guys kind of interact with it. My friend Eric Silver GM of Join the Party–shout out shout out shout out–
Lyn: (Quietly imitates party siren).
Mischa: –talks a lot about how the GM has different narrative beats as like a hand of cards–
Mayanna: Yes!
Mischa: –that you can play at any time.
Mayanna: Yes!
Mischa: And so I, yeah, I have a bunch of those prepared. In fact, y'all don't maybe know this. I have a giant story document that I wrote before we even started that has like a lot of the answers to the mystery.
Lyn: Yeah.
Bex: Oh, I believe it.
Mayanna: Yeah, see that’s –that's what I'm curious about. ‘Cause, and please don't give me any spoilers, but yeah, it's like you must, as a, as a–a seasoned storyteller. You're not winging it by any stretch of the imagination.
Mischa: No. No, that’s absolutely true.
Mayanna: And I think, I think there's a myth out there that it is just like, you know, and you see the memes on TikTok where it's like “me prepping for 15 hours before a session, and it doesn't do anything. It's like me prepping for 20 minutes before session. You're like, that was amazing. That was the best session.”
Mischa: Yeah
[Laughter].
Mayanna: And I'm like, that sounds like made up. That sounds, I think prep is critical.
Bex: I think it's somewhere in between those two.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Ian: Right. Well, with all things, right. Like the more work you do ideating on something then the more fun you can have improvising when things aren't going–
Mayanna: Because you have a sense of–
Ian: –where you want to go
Mayanna: –some body, yeah, of story.
Mischa: Yeah and you know one of the benefits to playing D&D in our first campaign and I I know that like we had some back and forth on it when We were talking about it, but It gives us a wide audience. We hope people out there are familiar with at least some of the rules, even as we introduce new rules to the familiar rules in this game.
Bex: Woo!
Mischa: But also that, like, I have been playing it for so long that I have kind of internalized the rules. And I think that, to your point, Mayanna, I've been playing home games for so long.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Mischa: Home games is really where that advice is big.
[Agreement].
Mayanna: That’s where that– and I think that's a huge, I think that's genuinely very, like, important wisdom to impart.
Mischa: Yeah.
Mayanna: Because I think we see a lot of stuff in the space–
Mischa: Yeah.
Mayanna: –that you're like, “Oh, I could just do that.” And it's like,
Mischa: No.
Mayanna: You could do that for a home game, but if you're going to do this as a production, like–
Lyn: Yeah.
Mayanna: –there is a lot of thought and prep and time that goes into it.
Mischa: Yes. Big difference between playing a game at home with your friends and making a show.
Lyn and Bex: Yeah.
Mischa: So, but I do think that like, the practice of doing those sling from the hip sessions.
Mayanna: You build up the skills.
Mischa: You build up the skills. You build up, like, the, you know, mental muscle memory–
Mayanna: Yes.
Mischa: –to pivot and maneuver in situations. Like, for example, I have played some games in the past–no shade to them. This is just sometimes how games go.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Mischa: Where, like, the mystery of that construction site would have been a little more railroaded, but, like, you guys didn't roll well that day.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Mischa: And other stuff had to happen.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Mischa:And having the ability to improvise story, like it's a skill you have to build up.
Mayanna: Absolutely. And it also, and I think that comes from like logic, like a good understanding of just narrative logic, of your like motivation, opport-like area of opportunity, like kind of the same thing with like a murder mystery.
Lyn: Yeah.
Mayanna: Where you're like, were they in the right place at the right time? Did they have the motive and did they have the opportunity? And then you can. Even if it wasn't what you thought it was going to be, like, it makes sense. And like, the audience or the players are like, “Oh, of course, that's what you planned. Like, because it makes sense to me.” Yeah. You know, yeah.
Mischa: For example, one of the things that was really shocking and surprising to me, and I loved it because it really fed into kind of the stuff I'm planning, was that the only person who ended up hurt in the first combat was Paz.
[Agreement].
Mischa: I was like, “Oh. So many things could have been different if I had actually ended up really harming any of you guys in that moment.”
Mayanna: Mhmm.
Mischa: But the fact that it was just Paz, like, I, I was like, “oh, okay, this is what we're doing now.” That meant that in the third episode, there was definitely probably going to be a scene where you go to the hospital and visit her.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Mischa: I hadn't had that scene written until that combat went through.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Lyn: Yeah.
Mayanna: Yeah! Yes.
Mischa: So, yeah, I mean, there, there was probably going to be that information coming episodes down the line, but it came up in episode three because of how the dice rolled. [Agreement]. Sometimes that's that's the best part about improv storytelling with dice.
Bex: Yeah.
Ian: Yeah.
Lyn: The dice tell a story.
Mayanna: Being a DM just constantly trying to think of what your next move is, but you can't think of what your next move is until somebody makes their move before yours.
Lyn: Mhmm.
Mischa: Yeah.
Bex: Yeah.
Mischa: Absolutely.
Mayanna: It's so wild.
Mischa: Okay. We've talked about characters. I think what's next is to talk about story.
Mayanna: Yes.
Bex: Yee.
Mischa: Okay.
Lyn: (Prolongued, excited groan).
[Laughter].
Mayanna: I love it.
Mischa: So we've had five episodes so far, we've had two combats, we've had a bunch of, again, trying to find your way within these societal systems, trying to make it all fit, make it all work. How are y'all thinking about this mystery, about this story?
Mayanna: I'm riveted.
Lyn: I'm so into it.
Mayanna: Edge of my seat.
Mischa: Yeah?
Mayanna: I'm like, “what is going on?”
Mischa: Okay, what about what's going on?
Mayanna: I mean like all the stuff with like people coming to these locations investigating things that you're like, you don't know what they're investigating. No one wants to tell you stuff.
Lyn: Mhmm.
Mayanna: People are forgetting things. Like, it's very scary.
Lyn: Yeah.
Mayanna: And very like, unsettling. And the fact-and it's frustrating when you're a part of something, and you can tell something's wrong–
Mischa: Yeah.
Mayanna: –and someone's just not telling you. And when you ask them what's wrong, not only are they not telling you, but they're like, “you are entitled and stupid for asking me that.” [Agreement]. It's so interesting.
Mischa: Yeah.
Bex: I think, I think it was Mayanna that said, “I want to create a world where we want to trust each other, but we can't. “
Mayanna: Mm, I think it was Lyn that said that.
Bex: That it was hard, or something.
[Thinking sounds, trying to remember].
Bex: Oh, sorry, it was Lyn that said that.
Ian: I think it was Lyn that said it, but we're going to give the credit to Mayanna.
[Laughter].
Lyn: Yeah!
Bex: That sounds more fun.
[Laughter].
Mischa: Mayanna’s already winning on party points, can we stop giving her all the things?
[Laughter].
Lyn: No!
[Laughter].
Bex: No!
Lyn: Never!
[Laughter].
Bex: Okay, so it was Lyn that said this.
Lyn: I don't actually know who said it honestly.
Bex: Doesn't matter. It was said. And it was brilliant. I think that Mischa's done a great job of creating that space for us.
Mayanna: Mhmm.
Bex: Of like, we want to trust these people that are employing us, that are seemingly putting us in positions of danger, if not–
Mayanna: Literal danger, yeah.
Mischa: Yeah.
Bex: If not also, import.
Mischa: You know, and I guess that, that's what I want to know is like, who are you trusting right now? Who are you not trusting?
[Deep breaths].
Mischa: Like, who do you think has the thing you need?
Bex: I’m trusting Gwen even though she doesn't remember shit.
Mayanna: (Thoughtful hum).
Mischa: Okay.
Lyn: Yeah, like, mechanically, the reason why JJ is a cleric is because of Gwen.
Mayanna: (Thoughtful hum).
Lyn: So I think like that is a tie that would be really challenging to break. But ultimately like, yeah, like, like I said earlier, like, kind of defers to these people that she trusts most.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Lyn: And is like, even though I want to trust Ravona, or it feels like the right thing to do in this situation, like, this is a Person Of Authority that should be the person that we trust like still deferred to Fran where's like “if you think this is sus it's probably not right.”
Mayanna: Yeah.
Mischa: Yeah, those– especially at the end of last episode with Ravona– that moment where like–
Bex: That was clutch.
Mischa: –like we were on the bleeding edge of trust being established and then, a combination of the dice rolls and like what's going on with her that you guys don't know about and what's going on with you guys that she doesn't know about it. Just– it just sort of fell apart.
Mayanna: Yeah,
Ian: I have to say I was, I thought we were making the wrong call.
Mayanna: I did too.
Ian: When we– were you?
Mayanna: I got scared. Yeah, I-I-I always have doubts.
Ian: You were the one who was saying–
Mayanna: I know. I know!
Mischa: Whoa.
Ian: –we shouldn't trust her!
Bex: Yeah, but you're brilliant.
Mayanna: I know! But as a player–
Lyn: Yeah.
Mayanna: I doubt choices all the time.
Ian: Wild!
Mayanna: Yeah, I always doubt. That's a big swing to take.
[Agreement].
Ian: Yeah, it was, that's what it was, it was, such a big swing.
Bex: I loved it.
Ian: And again, being a type A person who's like, whose main goal is pushing story forward, to be withholding that information from our like, biggest fount of stuff so far. I was like, “what? What are we doing? Are you serious?”
Mayanna: Mhmm. Mhmm.
Ian: But now that that's happened, in terms of like, talking about who we trust, to me it really does feel like the four of us against the city now.
Lyn: Yeah.
Bex: Yeah.
Mayanna: Agreed.
Ian: And it didn't feel like that before that scene.
Mayanna: Yeah, 100%.
Mischa: Absolutely.
Mayanna: I mean, because we are all-we are all in the same situations of like, we are putting our lives on the line now twice for this thing that we didn't sign up for, that not even the people who are like closely working in government have any context for.
Lyn: Mhmm.
Mayanna: And especially as us two working class characters,
Bex: Yeah.
Mayanna: Gordon and myself, like–this is, I don't think it's a crazy ask to be told what's going on.
Bex: Mhmm.
Ian: Right.
Mayanna: And the fact that we met, we were met with like disrespect.
Lyn: Yeah.
Bex: Not just resistance, but disrespect.
Mayanna: Like– disrespect!
Lyn: Like condescension.
Mischa: Dismissal.
Lyn: Yeah.
Mayanna: Dismissal!
Lyn: Yeah.
Mayanna: Like, “How dare you? You entitled children” is like, “Okay,”
Mischa: Yeah!
Mayanna: and I and that and that's-that's-that's a Mayanna problem too.
Mischa: No!
Bex: No no no.
Mischa: I don't think– I think you're right. Like I was rooting for you guys in that moment.
Lyn: Mhmm.
Mischa: I think that like, yes, there's a completely different version of the story where that interaction goes well.
Mayanna: Mhmm.
Mischa: And you guys are a team, and you're brought into this community of people trying to solve this problem.
Ian: Where the four of us were Batman and Ravona was Inspector Gordon.
Mischa: Yeah, kind of.
[Agreement].
Mischa: And now that's not going to happen. She doesn't feel that way about you guys. You don't feel that way about her. We'll come back to this probably in the next episode, but, you know, how does Gwen feel about all of that?
Lyn: Mhmm.
Mischa: She's kind of the one who sent you to Ravona.
Lyn, Mayanna, Bex, and Ian: Yeah...
[Laughter].
Lyn: There will be consequences to this action for sure.
Mayanna: Yeah. Gwen will remember this.
Mischa: Yeah!
Lyn: Or maybe not?
Ian: Or not!
Mayanna: Maybe not!
Ian: Or she won't!
Mayanna: Or maybe she won’t!
Lyn: (Skeptical groan).
Mischa: Ravona, that's, that's really what it was, is that like, that conversation with Ravonna after the construction fight, I was rooting for you guys to find that crystal in that hole, and then–
Mayanna: Thank God, Gordon.
[Agreement].
Mischa: Yeah, and then the minute you guys had the choice to show it to Ravona or not, that was my big telltale, like, Ravona will remember that moment.
[Agreement].
Mischa: And it, that's just the end of our first arc, but we'll see where it takes it.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Lyn: Yeah.
Mischa: It's gonna, it's gonna change the trajectory of the story for sure.
Mayanna: My tinfoil hat conspiracy theory–
Mischa: Hit me!
Mayanna: –is Ravona activated the mech.
Mischa: Whoa!
Lyn: Woah!
Bex: Woah!
Mayanna: Like, cause we couldn't see her! We couldn't see it was too high up. I think that's my, I, and I'm sure I'm wrong,
Lyn: That’s compelling.
Bex: It was a completely shadowy figure.
Mayanna: But I'm like, she activated the mech.
[Appreciative noises].
Ian: On this subject, the thing that I've sort of been not realizing I've been chewing on is why is she the only other person who can remember stuff? Do we have any idea of what that is?
Mayanna: No clue.
Lyn: No, she says that there are a team,
Mischa: Yeah.
Lyn: like she works with individuals and investigators.
Mischa: I will, I'll point out, she's also not the pers– the only person who remembers,
Bex: Yeah.
Mischa: Paz remembered.
Lyn: mhmm.
Ian: Oh, right.
Mayanna: Oh, right, Paz remembers
Mischa: It's– it’s– it’s not
Mayanna: Samira does not.
Mischa: It's not clear to y'all, we haven't gotten to the point in the story where you figured out what's causing that.
Ian: Got it.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Mischa: The only thing that's really clear is that like, obviously you guys remember.
Lyn: Yeah.
Mayanna: It's giving Men in Black.
Mischa: Yeah.
Lyn: Yeah!
Mischa: A little bit.
Ian: One of my favorite movies of all time.
Mayanna: Such a good movie.
Lyn: Such a good movie.
Ian: First Men in Black, perfect film.
Lyn: Mhmm.
Mayanna: Terrifying. Terrifying idea that you could just, like, not remember something you saw.
Mischa: So good, they made the exact same thing again and just put a 2 after it.
[Laughter].
Ian: And that one wasn't great. And then–
Mayanna: Hot take: Love 3.
Ian: –they made the third one, and the third one fucking rocks.
Mayanna: I love 3.
Lyn: Yeah
Ian: I cried.
Mayanna: I cried too!
Mischa: The third one's a time travel one right?
Ian: Yes!
Mayanna: Yeah, I cried too.
Lyn: Yeah.
Ian: Josh Brolin's in it playing– oh my god, I cried.
[Laughter].
Mayanna: The future seeing alien is one of my favorite characters in anything.
Lyn: Ooh.
Mayanna: He can see all possible futures all at once.
Lyn: Yeah.
Mayanna: So great.
Ian: Also the really, really like weird looking Men in Black cartoon that was–
Lyn: Oh yeah!
Mayanna: That was a great cartoon.
Lyn: That was great!
Mayanna: I loved that show.
Ian: That was so sick.
Mayanna: Yeah, animation cinema. Anyway.
[Laughter].
Mischa: Yeah, no, truly. So, here we are five episodes in your authority figures not trusting you with information. I'm not going to say anything in this moment, but I would love to go around. And hear what you guys think is happening.
[Deep breaths].
Mischa: I'm not going to say anything. But I would just hear it in our very first detour, our very first talk back episode. I would love for you guys to put this on tape.
Mayanna: Oh my god.
Lyn: Should we roll for initiative–
Ian: Yes! Do it!
Mayanna: Yeah!
Lyn: –to see who goes first?
[Laughter].
Ian: Do it. Fuck yeah. Mischa's face. Mischa's so over this.
Mischa: How did I know Ian was going to just jump at that?
Mayanna: I love that.
[Laughter].
Bex: Can I borrow?
Mayanna: I love that idea.
Bex: I didn't bring.
Mayanna: Yeah absolutely– no, you absolutely can.
Bex: Yay!
[Dice rolls].
Lyn: I rolled a 17.
Ian: You rolled a 17? That's high.
Mayanna: 11.
Bex: 4!
Ian: And unbelievably, a 2.
[Laughter].
Lyn: So I guess that's me.
[Laughter].
Mayanna: Yeah
Mischa: Lyn, you first.
Lyn: Shit. Okay, Um. I don't have any hypotheses around, like, the shadowy figure necessarily, but as far as, like, what is happening. Based on the investigation thus far, both mine and JJ, because at this point, as far as the investigation goes, we're the same. (Laughs).
Mischa: Yeah, I mean, I think that's, that's the fun part about making a mystery game, right, is that, like, at a certain point, your theories and the characters theories are just, you're playing the game.
Lyn: They're aligning, yeah.
Bex: Mine, mine don't, though.
Mischa: Ooh!
Lyn: Ooh. I want to get into that.
Mischa: Okay, We'll talk about that in a second.
Lyn: Is that the structure in which magic is created, or that Astra funnels magic, like essentially the grid–like the hypothesis that it's collapsing because it was never actually that stable. That like the conduits in which we have been using to contain wild magic, you know, industrial revolution, et cetera, et cetera, like this, it's fucking fossil fuels, like the way that we are actually manifesting it and utilizing it, we don't actually know its true nature. We just understood the physical properties of it enough to make it work for us. But that the infrastructure is breaking and either someone is making it break faster on purpose, or it is breaking kind of naturally and some person or group is taking advantage of it. And the magical destiny that we are on is that this has happened before, I mean, we were told “it's happening again,” so that to some degree, some kind of, like, cataclysmic magical occurrence is like, on its way, and our use of Astra has sped it along.
Mayanna: Hmm.
Ian: Wow.
Mayanna: I think that Astra contains some life matter of some kind–
Lyn: (Thoughtful hum).
Mayanna: –that we can utilize for magic and I think it is alive and I think over time it's creating these like living creatures that we're fighting like the jelly ghost and the, and this, this, this new one we found that feels like home or whatever, like that it's, it's not just a resource. That there’s something else deeper going on with it. And also that, that someone knows and they're not telling us and they're trying to keep it from getting out–
Lyn: Mhmm.
Mayanna: Or whatever Astra or whatever prior thing was used in the war. I think there's a soul cost to all of that.
Lyn: Yeah.
Mayanna: And so I think there's like a reckoning happening where the souls want to get us or something.
Lyn: I like that.
Mayanna: Yeah, that's my theory.
Lyn: I'm incorporating that into my belief system as well.
[Laughter].
Bex: I, Bex, think that there is some sort of political play going on to gain power based on something that happened in the past maybe during initial construction that was unsolved, swept under the rug, and is now sort of being unearthed–pun semi-intended, [chuckle], to be utilized for a power play.
Bex: Ibra… has no fucking idea what's going on. [Laughter]. Ibra is like, “there is some dream stuff going on and now there's some specter stuff going on…” Ibra's really far more confused and doesn't really have any sort of, like, mapped out version or idea of what's going on at all.
Mischa: That sort of plays into Ibra's character because Ibra has been shepherded along by their parents and by these doctors, and like, it's created a person who doesn't seek the answers because they're used to be– like someone else having them and just going along with it.
Bex: They're used to being in the dark–
Mayanna: Siloed.
Bex: Having to trudge through the dark.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Bex: And like the other, the other thing I was thinking as Bex is like, there is something about this Astra that is like, pure, different, something different that makes it more powerful or at least easier to manipulate.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Ian: You're talking about the thing that we just found?
Bex: Yeah.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Ian: Okay. I keep coming back to that initial dream and that sentence of “it's happening again.”
Mayanna: Yeah.
Ian: The “it's” that is happening again, I'm going to guess that it's… revolution.
[Intrigued gasps].
Lyn: Ooh.
Bex: Hell yeah.
Ian: And my guess is that someone is using the Astra to harness these creatures and is going to try to take down the upper levels of society with it.
Mayanna: Nice.
[Appreciative hums].
Ian: That's my guess.
Mischa: When will it all come down?
Ian: When will it all come down.
[Agreement].
Mayanna: Oh, right!
Lyn: That's one of our questions in the world building.
Mayanna: Yes. Yes. Ooh!
Lyn: Spicy. I got chills.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Lyn: Damn.
Mischa: I'm not going to say, but, I loved that. [Laughter]. I personally was just sitting over here loving all of that, everything that just happened was great for me.
[Giggles].
Bex: It's so funny. I have so many more thoughts that I can't put into words because as soon as it's my turn, my brain goes, (spooky panicked noise).
[Laughter].
Lyn: That's literally also me when I plan my moves so far in advance in initiative and then it gets to my turn, I'm like, “well!”
[Laughter].
Mischa: (Confused “whatever” sound) Myeh?
Lyn: (Confused “whatever” sound): Blep.
[Laughter].
Mayanna: I know it's so hard. You have to prepare a little, but you can't over prepare.
Lyn: Yeah.
Mayanna: because you do have to anticipate that things will have changed by the time it's your turn.
Lyn: Yeah.
Bex: Yeah.
Mayanna: That's very hard.
Lyn: Like a lair action.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Bex: (Yelps).
Lyn: Horrible.
[Laughter].
Mischa: Well, and you know, I mean, I'm constantly doing that, you know.
Mayanna: Yeah!
Mischa: Like, like you guys have, you, at least you guys can coordinate.
Mayanna: Yes.
Mischa: I'm working against you guys most of the time.
Bex: Mhmm. Yeah.
Ian: Just want to say out of game, too, that I feel really bad for how I treated that construction worker guy.
Bex: Aww!
[Awws, laughter]
Lyn: Percy!
Bex: Good!
[Laughter].
Mayanna: The Muppet man?
Ian: I felt so bad. As I was bullying him, I felt bad.
Mischa: And so fast, like without, without very much prompting it.
[Agreement].
Ian: I surprised myself.
Mischa: It was just immediate.
Mayanna: (As Percy, with a wavering voice)“Sorry, sir.”
Ian: Yeah, that was, that was some childhood trauma coming out.
Lyn: Yeah.
Ian: Just being like, “I'm going to step on you.”
Mayanna: Mm.
Ian: Very fast.
Mayanna: Because he reminds you of yourself, or like?
Ian: I guess, I don't, I'm not even going to dig that deep.
Lyn: Wow.
Mischa: “There's a pecking order, and I won't be in the bottom.”
[Laughter].
Mayanna: (Overly enunciated) Buck, buck, b'gawk.
[Laughter].
Lyn: Incredible.
Mischa: Okay.
Bex: (Echoing) Buck buck b'gawk.
Mischa: We're almost at the end of this little friendship welcome circle. Before we sign off, I do want to point out that after the last combat, you guys leveled up.
[Cheers].
Ian: Oh snap!
Mischa: You guys went from level two to level three.
Mayanna: Oh my god.
Mischa: We'll discuss that a little bit narratively in the next episode, but–
Mayanna: Incredible.
Mischa: –as far as mechanics, I would love to go around and talk about how your builds have changed. We'll go in reverse initiative order.
Mayanna: I love that. Thank you.
Lyn: Cool.
Mischa: So, Ian.
Ian: I am deeply – I'm realizing this moment that this was our homework assignment and I did not do it.
Mischa: Shit.
Bex: Ah!
Ian: Yeah, I fucked up. I'm so sorry.
Mischa: That's okay.
Ian: I have to look at– I have to look at it.
Mischa: You get access to things called reagents which make your bombs stronger and you can also craft potions now.
Ian: I really love that you're– that you asked me and then knew the answers.
Mischa: Being a GM, [Laughter], is all about asking questions of your players that you know the answers to.
Ian: Okay, so will you tell our listeners at home, because I am useless. Please explain it for me.
Bex: You explain it so well, you should go ahead.
[Laughter].
Lyn: That’s so funny.
Mischa: Yeah, Gordon's a level three alchemist.
Ian: Holy fuck.
[Laughter].
Lyn: Yeah
Mischa: Listen, we're all playing with Valda’s to Spire of Secrets. A book we're not all intimately familiar with yet.
Bex: But deeply obsessed with!
[Agreement].
Mischa: Deeply, deeply obsessed.
Lyn: I love it. Despite not playing, playing with it.
Mischa: I cannot stop playing with Valda’s. Like I-I-I don't know if, well–
Bex: I don’t wanna play with anything else ever again
Lyn: I’ve played it in other games.
Mayanna: Oh yeah yeah.
Mischa: Oh, I don't think I ever wanna play a game of 5e again without Valda’s classes.
Bex: No.
Lyn: Yeah yeah, it’s sick.
Bex: Valda’s is the best.
Ian: Okay. So everyone listening at home, imagine that Mischa's voice is my voice.
Mischa: Gordon's a level 3 alchemist now, which means you get access to reagents–
Ian: Okay.
Mischa: –which make your bombs more volatile and more powerful.
Ian: Yeah yeah yeah yeah.
Mischa: And then, as a level 3 alchemist, there's like a list of common potions you can make. I think one of them is a potion of growth, which lets you grow two times your size.
Ian: Oh, we talked about this.
Lyn: Get big.
Mischa: You can make healing potions, you can make a couple of different potions now too.
Ian: Cool.
Mischa: And I, now that I've, I'm the one saying it on mic, your homework is going to be to narratively justify all those things for next episode.
Ian: Yeah, I got an assignment on an assignment.
Lyn: Mhmm.
Bex: Yeah. I am taking my champion's call in the warden class.
Mischa: Ooh, that's the warden subclasses, you finally get a subclass. Yeah!
Bex: I finally get to choose my subclass, and I'm going with Soulblood Shaman. Again, this is in Valda’s Spire of Secrets. It's very exciting. I get to be like a third-caster now instead of like a half-caster or full-caster.
Mischa: Yeah, it's like, it's like a paladin where, like, you get access to magic, but not all the way. But like a warden, even less so you get like, I think you max out at level four spells or something like that.
Bex: Yeah, I do.
Lyn: It also sounds badass as hell.
Ian: Yeah.
Bex: It is.
Mischa: It's, yeah, it's sort of about having an otherworldly call to destiny.
Lyn: Mhmm.
Mischa: It's, it's about like the spirits of the past imbuing you with the power to protect the present. So.
Mayanna: That sounds thematic.
Mischa: Fits pretty well.
Lyn: (Singsongy) Sounds thematic.
Bex: It's very thematic, and I'm very excited narratively– like, JJ just did some magic stuff to save my life, so I'm very excited to play with, like, Ibra needing a new tool in their belt.
Ian: Mhmm.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Mischa: speaking of tools in their belt.
Mayanna: Yeah. Tools in my belt!
[Laughter].
Mischa: What a transition!
Mayanna: I am gonna take up your advice about doing arcane maesters guild subclass.
Bex: Yes! Yes yes yes.
Mayanna: I think it also makes sense for the Astra stuff that we're all experiencing and investigating.
Mischa: Yeah. There was that moment where you, like, tried to press a crystal to the barrel of your gun.
Mayanna: Yes.
Mischa: And hope it did something.
Mayanna: Yes.
Mischa: I'm like, oh, that's a person who wants their– to make their things more magical.
Mayanna: Yeah, absolutely. I know. And, and like overall, I'm very, very happy with Fran's build. I think she's in over her head because she's not someone who was ever anticipating being in a situation she's in. So for combat purposes, I think she is a little ill equipped, but I think that's like, that makes sense. And additionally, I think she has other values she can add to combat, like assisting with getting hostages out of situations.
Lyn: Yeah, that was clutch.
Ian: Yeah.
Bex: Yeah.
Mayanna: Yeah! Like, so, but I feel bad that I can't help hit the big, the big metal guy.
Mischa: Sure.
Ian: I just love how every shot you fired misfired.
Mayanna: Yeah, I know. But I feel like that, I feel like that's the storytelling itself.
Ian: Yes.
Lyn: Mhmm.
Mayanna: I think, I think that is the story that needs to happen. But I'm very excited to do more magical craftsman things.
Mischa: Yeah! So, your thing again, all about adding tags to items, crafting different weapons. With your subclass, you get, like, a special tag, right?
Mayanna: Yes. I think so. I believe so. Yes, because I did sighted, but that was like, accidental. So I'll have to go through the tags and see what I can get to do.
Mischa: Oh, yeah.
Mayanna: Yeah. I'm very excited.
Mischa: Well, when we were building Fran originally in our world building episodes, we had talked about doing the armorer's Guild.
Mayanna: Yes.
Mischa: Of craftsmen.
Mayanna: Yes.
Mischa: Which is like, which is going to deal with, like, your fashion designer qualities. So that's another thing that I think is interesting that, like, because Fran has now been in these situations and seen what she actually needs to do. She, like, I don't, I don't know if narratively she changed her mind, the fact that like, the build evolved as the story did.
Mayanna: Yeah, it's like, she's, she, she went through a leather work phase, [Laughter], and now she's in her arcane era.
Bex: Yeah.
Mischa: Now she's in her “Imma fuck shit up” phase.
Lyn: Yeah.
Mayanna: Now she's in her, “I'm a magician” phase.
[Laughter].
Bex: Part of the thing about craftsmen is you use your downtime to make everything so much cooler.
Mayanna: Yes.
Bex: And the thing about Fran, you have never been able to have downtime.
Mischa: Yeah!
Lyn: Yeah! True!
Mayanna: It's so true.
Mischa: We're truly on like day two of this campaign in-world, so we've had like, an hour of downtime.
Mayanna: An hour of rest once. I had a great time helping Gordon on his delivery route.
Ian: That was so good.
[Laughter].
Mayanna: That was so fun.
Lyn: I loved that scene.
Ian: We gotta, we gotta play another one of those sidequests.
[Agreement].
Mischa: Yeah, I– I think–
Mayanna: You have a week of deliveries left to make.
Lyn: Yeah.
Mischa: That's the thing, yeah.
Mayanna: You have six days.
Mischa: Yeah, we, we sort of left off episode five kind of in a pivotal emotional moment as we've been talking about most of this episode. But, I think once some of that gets resolved, we'll move into a downtime phase and see how that goes.
Bex: Woo!
Mayanna: I'm so excited.
Lyn: I loved that scene so much.
Mayanna: Aw thank you.
Lyn: It made me so happy. I was like, “ah, I want to be in this ride-along all the time.”
Mayanna: It’s such a fun ride along and Gordon handled it great.
Ian: I passed on Santa Monica Boulevard one of those tuk tuks.
[Gasps].
Ian: There's there's a Instagram group called, I don't know how to say it, it's K-E-I. Is the brand.
Lyn: Kei? Oh, the Kei trucks?
Ian: Kei trucks. It's called Kei of SoCal.
Mayanna: Yes.
Ian: And there's a community of people who have those trucks here and have like, refurbed them and are driving around. And I. I saw it and I was like, (excited, strangled gasp).
Mayanna: That’s us!
Lyn: Kei is a classification of Japanese vehicle.
Ian: Yeah.
Bex: Oooh!
Mayanna: Wooaaahhhh
Ian: It’s not a brand, it’s a classification of truck.
Ian: Got it.
Mischa: You got to take those pictures and send it to our group chat dawg.
Ian: Oh that’s such a good point.
Mayanna: He was driving. He was being safe.
Mischa: Okay. Don't text the group chat when you're driving.
Ian: Yeah yeah.
Mischa: OSHA approved podcast.
[Laughter].
Mayanna: OSHA approved. The only podcast that got OSHA approval.
[Laughter].
Lyn: What am I talking about?
Mayanna: JJ's build!
Lyn: Oh my gosh! JJ's build! It feels anticlimactic because I'm the only one not playing Valda’s class, and I've already had my subclass this whole time.
Mischa: Yeah! Hey! Listen. That’s okay!
Lyn: Clerics are– Clerics are little weird!
Mayanna: I love clerics!
Bex: We love clerics.
Lyn: So, JJ taking level 3 in Peace Cleric, which is such a, like, we've been talking out of game about, like, a lot of the weird tension there, which I think is really spicy and fun and is why JJ has anxiety. [Laughter]. I gave my character anxiety. That's me. I did that.
[Laughter].
Mischa: Look at what you've done to this perfectly good D&D character. It has anxiety.
Mayanna: It's like the fairies in Sleeping Beauty, or it's like “my gift will be the gift of song.” [Laughter]. It's like “your gift is the gift of anxiety.”
[Laughter].
Mischa: Can I– honestly? Can I have the gift of being put to sleep for 16 years? That sounds kind of nice.
[Laughter].
Lyn: Oh yeah, I could use that.
Mayanna: Well that was the curse.
Mischa: Was it though?
Mayanna: It was.
Bex: Was it though?
Mischa: I’m sleepy.
Mayanna: I’m eepy.
[Laughter].
Lyn: so yeah, so the exciting thing about that is I get second level spell slots.
Ian: Hey!
[Laughter].
Mayanna: Yes!
Mischa: Hey that’s pretty big though.
Lyn: Which is huge. Yeah. I now have four first level spell slots and two second level spell slots, which is great. And now I get Spiritual Weapon.
[gasp]
Bex: Yeah!
Mayanna: I love Spiritual Weapon!
Mischa: Pretty good!
Lyn: You know. The cleric thing. That thing that clerics get.
Mayanna: Yeah, it's great.
Mischa: As soon as you replace your shattered Astra crystal.
Mayanna: Oh, yeah.
Lyn: Yeah, so mechanically, I'm very excited for that.
Bex: Yeah, someone needs to tell Ibra what the frick is going on.
[Laughter].
Mayanna: Yeah.
Lyn: Yeah. That's gonna be so expensive to replace… I’m not gonna think about that.
Bex: Again, someone needs to tell Ibra what the frick is going on.
Mayanna: Well, not if you go to Thorgunn.
[Laughter].
Lyn: I suppose.
Mayanna: He's so smart and very good.
Lyn: Yeah.
[Laughter].
Lyn: We all don't really know who Thorgunn is.
Mayanna: Yeah, I think it's gonna be a fun day.
[Laughter].
Lyn: I want that field trip now actually.
Mayanna: Yeah, perfect.
Lyn: That’d be really funny.
Mayanna: I think he's the first person I would go to if Astra was broken, which is terrible.
Lyn: Yeah.
Bex: You know what, don't explain it to Ibra until we get to Thorgunn's, because it’s more fun that way.
Mayanna: I won’t. Yeah, I won't. Well, it won't be Thorgunn's home, it will be the Pachonko parlor.
[Laughter].
Lyn: Which is his de facto home.
Mayanna: It's where he's always found.
Bex: He hasn't left that stool for three weeks.
Mayanna: As far as I know, he does live there.
[Laughter].
Lyn: Yeah. But yeah. Still trying to decide what that Spiritual Weapon will be. Because I think that narratively, that'll be very fun to decide.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Mischa: Yeah, I'm excited to see it.
Lyn: So, the, the fun thing is, Mischa knows this, is that I was also, like, forever GM for a while until Mischa became my GM, and now I play in three of Mischa's games.
Mischa: Yup!
Lyn: (Laughs) Which is –
Mischa: Wild, what a wild turn for you.
Lyn: Honestly, it was not intentional and yet here we are. So like, I love, like, the narrative choices of characters and, like, character symbolism specifically. So I have thoughts on the flavor and descriptions and all that. And very, not even half baked. It's like– haven't chosen the ingredients yet.
Mayanna: Hm.
Mischa: Keep tuning in, I guess.
Lyn: Yeah, find out… whenever I cast that spell.
[Laughter].
Mischa: Well, thanks so much, you guys, for talking with me about this little story that we're making.
Mayanna: Thanks for having us.
Mischa: I'm so excited to keep playing this.
Mayanna: Yes!
Bex: Thanks for having us! I don’t want to be done.
Mischa: It's so fun and so cool. I'm so invested.
Bex: Yeah!
Mischa: Five episodes in, I'm so invested.
Ian: I feel even more invigorated to play after this conversation.
Mayanna: Yeah, me too.
Bex: Right?
Lyn: Yeah.
Ian: Like, I just feel like I have a better overall grasp. I hope everyone at home does too.
Mischa and Lyn: Yeah.
Mischa: Thank you guys so much for listening.
Mayanna: Yes, thank you!
Bex: Yeah!
Lyn: Thank you!
Bex: We love you.
Mischa: Full veil-up for a second. Like we're still recording this pre-release.
Mayanna: Yeah.
Mischa: So like we're recording with the hope and faith that people are out there listening and enjoying it. I think they will. I hope they will.
Mayanna: I hope so.
Bex: Yeah!
Ian: Cross your fingers.
Mischa: So, so before we even know who you are, thank you for being here with us and for listening and for coming with us on this journey.
Mayanna: Yes! Down the path.
Mischa: Down the Wandering Path! Oh, like we made the show with that title on purpose.
[Laughter].
[Theme music].
Mischa: The Wandering Path was created by me, Mischa Stanton, and produced by Bex Taylor-Klaus, Lyn Rafil, and me. This story was game mastered and sound designed by me, Mischa Stanton, and was played and performed by Bex Taylor-Klaus, Lyn Rafil, Ian McQuown, and Mayanna Berrin. Cover art by Lyn Rafil, and music courtesy of the Independent Music Licensing Collective. Our production and house manager is Erin Bark.
If you like what you're listening to, please tell your friends and let them know where to find us. Our website is wanderingpathpod.com, where you'll find links to subscribe and follow us wherever the path leads. We're also on Patreon, patreon.com/wanderingpathpod.
We're so grateful for anything you can do to help us keep making this show. Thanks for wandering with us. Till next time!
[Theme music fades out].