Dungeons and Daddies - S2 Ep. 1 - Dungeon and D.A.D.D.I.E.S.

Episode Date: January 25, 2022

Four teens get a pretty gnarly detention. They also find out things they didn't expect about their own family histories!This episode contains violence, profanity, sexual content, and body horror.Suppo...rt the show on Patreon!Get merch and more at our website!Follow us on Twitter @dungeonsanddads!Check out the subreddit!DM is Anthony Burch (@anthony_burch)Lincoln Li-Wilson is Matt Arnold (@mattlarnold)Normal Oak is Will Campos (@willbcampos)Scary Marlowe is Beth May (@heybethmay)Taylor Swift is Freddie Wong (@fwong)Theme song is "On My Way" by Maxton Waller (Available on Bandcamp)Brian Fernandes is our Content ProducerAshley Nicollette is our Community ManagerEster Ellis is our Lead EditorTravis Reaves provides Additional EditingRobin Rapp is our TranscriberCover art by Alex Moore (@notanotheralex)Send us stuff and get in contact: https://www.dungeonsanddaddies.com/contactThe story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 We can wait for clean water solutions, or we can engineer access to clean water. We can acknowledge indigenous cultures, or we can learn from indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth, or we can demand more from ourselves. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future. Dungeons and Daddies is a rowdy, horny, violent podcast for grownups. Content warnings can be found in the episode description.
Starting point is 00:00:46 We go to the Oak Garcia household where all of your favorite characters are hanging out in the living room. Then we go to the kitchen. And while Henry is doing abominable things to popcorn, Lark and Sparrow walk in. Hey, my beautiful boys. How's it going? You guys ready to see this Minion movie? Sparrow says, Father, I know we know that things have been different for some time and that since we've returned, Lark has been, shall we say sullen. But Lark, I believe you have an apology for father. Oh, Lark, that's so sweet. You don't need to apologize for anything, buddy. Lark comes in for an embrace and he says,
Starting point is 00:01:14 I really do need to apologize, father. I am sorry. Sorry for what, bud? For this. And in that moment, you feel a blade enter your back between your shoulder blades. A knife. It's not a very deep wound, but it hurts and you feel a blade enter your back between your shoulder blades. A knife. It's not a very deep wound, but it hurts.
Starting point is 00:01:27 And you feel it go all the way in. And he steps away from you and he just shakes his head and he goes, I'm so sorry, father. As you look into his eyes, you remember all the horrible things that brought you to this moment. You remember coming to the Forgotten Realms and you being the first person to cast a spell to entangle a red cloak that he defeated. You remember using your Jezball skills to build walls of fire and stone around each other. You remember using the power of your mind and your colon to completely
Starting point is 00:01:51 immolate David Boreanaz, even as he was screaming that all he had ever wanted was for the Lord of Chaos to spill the blood of the unsung hero. And as you think about that, you remember that as the door slammed on Willie Stampler, he had cast the message spell. Oh, shit. And in this moment, you realize, as Lark mouths on Willie Stampler, he had cast the message spell. Oh, shit. And in this moment, you realize, as
Starting point is 00:02:08 Lark mouths it in front of you, what that message was. Henry Oak is the unsung hero. And the Lord of Chaos has just spilled his blood. And suddenly, you and your two children find yourselves wracked with convulsions as you all begin
Starting point is 00:02:23 to vomit up a stream of black and gray. Oh my god. What the fuck? Static. Oh god. Do we see it in the living room? Yes, everyone in the living room, everyone outside can hear it as a deep, bassy rumble actually begins to be heard all across the planet.
Starting point is 00:02:38 After what feels like forever, you stop heaving up this black bile substance, and it begins to form into a cloud, and it escapes out the nearest open window. I stagger to my feet. I check on my boys. Are you guys all right? Are you okay? You hear a smash of glass outside.
Starting point is 00:02:54 You hear car alarms blaring. Oh, God. I pick up my two boys, and I run out the door. And as you head out into the front yard, you look up, and you see what was the small cloud of static beginning to grow larger and larger in the sky, and it begins to encircle the earth. The sky is turning this horrible black staticky color, and you know in this moment that the doodler has returned. Welcome to Dungeons and Daddies, not a BDSM podcast.
Starting point is 00:03:32 Or a Daddy's podcast. It's not about daddies. No, it is about daddies. It is about daddies, but daddies isn't what you think it is. Open your mind. This is a Dungeons and Dragons podcast that tells the story of the four grandchildren of Daryl, Henry, Glenn, and Ron on a quest to find their lost dads in a world forever changed by the events of season one. My name is Freddie Wong, and I play cool teen. I get to reveal my teen name, Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift loves anime, loves survival.
Starting point is 00:04:01 Taylor's rad fact is he doesn't have a backpack. He has a go bag he keeps everything in his like school backpack he calls it his go bag just in case this is a normal school backpack or it's just a normal school backpack what's what's taylor got in his go bag he's got a lot of paracord and one of those crinkly blankets one of those crinkly survival blankets and like a very very loud whistle because if you're ever out in the middle of nowhere, it does you no good to shout. But if you want to auditorily get attention of someone, the whistle is the best way of doing it. And Taylor knows all of this.
Starting point is 00:04:32 Hey, everybody. My name is Matthew Arnold. I play Lincoln Lee Wilson, schooled at home soccer kid whose voice is going to drop soon. Don't worry about it. It will. worry about it it will little i guess rad fact about lincoln here is that he is a year older than everybody because he was homeschooled but he loved soccer so much and he was tired of playing soccer by himself he finally convinced his overbearing dad grant to let him go to a normal high school so he could join the soccer team but it was a year behind everybody so he's a year older
Starting point is 00:05:00 than everybody's a year older a year wiser How did he play soccer by himself? In the backyard, you know, a lot of helmets, a lot of safety equipment, very, you know, taken care of. But he wore a helmet. Okay, I do have two quick rad facts. It was also that Lincoln fell in love with FIFA first. Like, he didn't know it was a sport. He just played the video game with
Starting point is 00:05:20 Grant all the time and played FIFA. And then when he found out there's a real world of soccer, he got really into soccer. He's like, wait, this is a real version of this video game? Who's like Blitzball from Final Fantasy X? Wait, Dad, you're telling me that this one's real though? Super Mario Strikers is a documentary?
Starting point is 00:05:36 Because Grant, his dad, is not quite a pro gamer, but you know, he was a millennial. He plays video games, so that's how they did a lot. Grant was not a millennial. Grant was a zoomer. Grant was a zoomer. Oh, I mean, zoomers don't play video games. Zoomers play video games too, Beth. Zoomers play video games so that's how they did a lot of content Grant was not a millennial Grant was a zoomer Zoomer Oh I mean zoomers don't play video games Zoomers play video games too Zoomers play video games more than millennials As a millennial
Starting point is 00:05:49 I will not stand for this erasure of our generation I want our generation to be erased Thanos get on it Hey everyone I'm Will Campos and I play Normal Oak I just love that your name is Normal A perky peppy ch love that your name's Normal. A perky, peppy, chipper-cheery, school spirit mascot kid. Normal
Starting point is 00:06:08 is the school mascot of Teen High. I don't know what the name of this high school is. Sandeep's High School. Teen High, Will. It's the same high school that we did. The kids call it Teen High. Hear me out. What if their mascot is the teen? The teen. So what is your costume then?
Starting point is 00:06:23 Just a larger teen. A larger teenager. And no kid likes your teen. Okay, so he plays Teenie the Teen. Oh my God. There's no way. I am letting our mascot just be a teen.
Starting point is 00:06:35 No, we're the doodlers. No, it's great. No, it's too late. Sorry. This is a new season. We have new canon. He's a fucking teen now. A teen means something else.
Starting point is 00:06:44 No, Beth. No, Beth. You're not the mascot. If you can say something that makes us laugh harder. You're not the mascot. a new season we have new canon he's a fucking teen now teen means something else no beth no beth you're not the mascot character will put this out in the world you yes i am this you're right i i spoke out of turn and uh all right so yeah normal is uh i hate it too beth don't worry i hate it so much i hate it so much. I hate it so much. I'm losing so much. It's like, I don't like rad fact. I'm not a big fan of rad fact. And then teeny the teen, I guess I can get used to. Hi, I'm Beth May.
Starting point is 00:07:12 And I play Terry Marlowe, a once soft-spoken daydreamer rebelling into a goth punk seeker of darkness who is not like other girls after meeting her new stepdad, Terry Stephen Stampler. That's right. Her mom's with a dude that's also called Terry. Instead of reverting to her full name, Teresa, she decides to embrace her inner demons and she becomes Scary Marlo. And that's the longest intro that it will be. It's going to be like super like snappy and quick for the rest of the season.
Starting point is 00:07:45 Hi, I'm Anthony Burch. What up, teach? Oh! If Anthony's 15 minutes late to the podcast record, we don't have to do it. I think I'm still the daddy master. Yeah, you're still our daddy. I'm not a ratty master.
Starting point is 00:07:56 That sucks. No. I guess the rad fact for this week is going to be, though this is still a Dungeons & Dragons podcast, I've adjusted some mechanics, I've farted around some stuff, trying to get just kind of a different vibe. So if you hear anything that feels like,
Starting point is 00:08:09 that's absolutely not a D&D mechanic, give it time. If this sucks, I'll change it. And if it's cool, then I knew better. And you can shut up. Let's do it. So last season of Dungeons and Daddies ended with the summoning of an eldritch chaos god known as the Doodler. Lark and Sparrow Oak summoned him by drawing the blood of the unsung hero, their father, Henry.
Starting point is 00:08:33 The three Oak boys vomited out a bunch of static that went into the sky, changed the sky in some weird way. Everything seemed like it was going to go very bad, like the world was going to end. And that's where we ended our previous season. And now we will open like this. 25 years later. The black sun burns angrily in a crimson sky. Did Anthony write some of this out? Oh my God.
Starting point is 00:08:57 I'm so excited. Yo, hold up. The black sun? Fucking hell yeah. I'm there, baby. Let me lower my seat. I can feel it. I just need to get like,
Starting point is 00:09:04 get closer to the edge. Yeah. The black sun burns angrily in the crimson sky. You can see thin, shallow grooves fading into view, all pointing away from the sun. They look like somebody dragged a knife across the firmament over and over again, each time bringing the tip closer and closer to the cigarette-burned sun before slicing through the atmosphere. Fingernail scratches on the skin of heaven. And you know what that means?
Starting point is 00:09:26 It's time to show up for weekend detention! Signs around town call it San Dimas, but you've only ever known it as home. San Dimas High isn't a particularly well-funded high school, but the teachers are pretty good at pretending to care when it matters. A minivan pulls up in the school's front parking lot. Inside, a man with a bushy beard and kind eyes looks into the rearview mirror.
Starting point is 00:09:42 Next to him in shotgun is another man holding the hand of the first and smiling sadly. In the backseat, we see a teenage boy. Matt, who's that teen? It's Lincoln Lee Wilson. Some people call him Link, short for Lincoln, and he's in trouble. He's going to detention, isn't he?
Starting point is 00:09:58 He disappointed his dad. Oh, no! So, like, twice as bad. So, the father of yours that is driving, Grant, says, I just want you to know I'm very glad that you've shown up for detention. It would have been very easy to not tell us that you had detention. It would have been very easy to sneak away. And I just want to say I really respect that you were up front with. I'm still disappointed in what you did, of course.
Starting point is 00:10:17 Of course. I just want to say well done, Link. No, no. You always told me trust is the one thing that you can't repair. So, you know, of course I wouldn't lie to you, Dad. I'm so sorry about what I did. Your other father in Shotgun, Marco, says like, no, no, you don't have to apologize. Remember, we don't apologize except to the people that we heard.
Starting point is 00:10:32 So it doesn't do any good to apologize to us. You know, it's about finding that peace within yourself and moving forward. Does that make sense, Grant? Grant's like, yeah, that's close enough. Yeah, sure. I've already apologized to Mrs. Anderson so many times. That's very good. Marco says she may not forgive you immediately for that. Anderson so many times. That's very good. Marco says she may not forgive you immediately for that.
Starting point is 00:10:49 And that's okay. We got to let her, you know, be on her own journey. But you did the right thing. This is a good first step for you. And honestly, you know, maybe this will do you some good. Your father and I haven't been the hardest on you. So who knows? Maybe some consequences and grants like content.
Starting point is 00:11:01 It's okay. It's all right. I'm scared to see him go too. Marco's like, I'm just scared about our little boy. And if anybody, if any street toughs come up to you in detention, you just run.
Starting point is 00:11:11 You don't be a hero. You run. Dad's, I already told you there was no bullies at school and everybody's really nice to me and I'm super safe there. So don't worry about me. Your father Grant says,
Starting point is 00:11:23 I'm driving to the airport shortly. I'm going to be on my business trip for like a week. So I've checked with daddy. He says, pointing at Marco and says like, he's got all your, your meds ready and your food. All your meals are already prepped. I already put them in the fridge. All you got to do is heat them up. And I'm going to be calling you every day on the metaverse. We're going to, I'm going to see you every day there. And we're going to, I know for 3 PM, I got 4 30 PM. I got the global clock that tells me what time it is, where you are and where I am.
Starting point is 00:11:45 The Zucker clock. That's right. All hail the Zucker clock. I'll be back in meat space in a week. I'll be fine. It's just high school. I told you the first. It's been fine so far, dad. I'm okay. It's just high school is very big. There could be a lot of bullies. You know, our home, we had a nice little homeschool and everything was very, very safe. And I respected your decision to try to go to a bigger school. And I just want you to know that I'm a little worried and I felt like it's okay for me to be vulnerable with you. Absolutely. Just know that. Grant, I'm sorry. You're right. It's okay
Starting point is 00:12:13 for you to be vulnerable. I'm sorry. I wasn't listening to your feelings. You're absolutely right about that. Remember, I'm very tall and I don't sound like it, but I am tough and my voice will sound tough at some point. Like you told me And it's okay if it doesn't. It will. Okay, I should go. If I stay here too long I'm not going to want to go. I love you both. See you. And both your bad dads. Daryl was right to not talk to his kid. And the moment I get out of the car
Starting point is 00:12:38 I look around for bullies. I was expecting like a pulls out shades, throws on leather jacket and runs switchblade. That's a roll for checking for bullies. Give me a roll, but give me a perception check. Would it drop your dice, freshman?
Starting point is 00:12:55 You still got 12. 12 bullies. 12 bullies that circle you. They go, well, well, well. Me and my 11 friends here looking for somebody to beat the shit out of. to circle you. They go, well, well, well. Me and my 11 friends here looking for somebody to beat the shit out of. Hey, it's the Varsity soccer team.
Starting point is 00:13:11 Hey, guys. Where are you? You're on a Saturday. Oh, hey, wait a second. Didn't you, aren't you on the team? Didn't you? No, I wish I was on Varsity. Of course I'm not on Varsity.
Starting point is 00:13:21 The coach said it may be next year. I'm really tall. I am really tall. You are really tall. I'm very tall. I'm not on the team. Yeah, said it may be next year. I'm really tall. I am really tall. You are really tall. They're amazed that you're not on the team. Yeah, no, no. What are you guys doing here? Oh, wait, you guys probably practice on Saturdays.
Starting point is 00:13:30 We practice on Saturdays. That's why San Dimas High has the strongest football, soccer team. I took a semester abroad in Britain. You're so cultured. I'm cultured and cool. What are you doing here? I got detention You hear 12 voices going
Starting point is 00:13:48 And they automatically harmonize And they go well well well Once you get out maybe We don't care We're just here practicing You go to detention You're tall and we appreciate that But apparently you're not good enough to be on varsity
Starting point is 00:14:04 So bye Really quick guys I try to put on a really like cool demeanor can i do like intimidation or something yeah sure i roll a three so my dad always says i think you should express your feelings and it would be nice to know what it is about me that makes you so likely to bully me and maybe i'll do better to not do that and then we can be more friends because i think i'm gonna be on your guys team next year So why don't you just give it to me? What don't you like about me? So with your three roll, as you're saying that, you hear two power windows roll down
Starting point is 00:14:30 and both of your dads poke their heads out of the van because they haven't driven away yet. And they're like, like, hey, what's going on? Hey, Link, what's going on? Are you friends of yours? Are they being nice to you? It's us.
Starting point is 00:14:42 It's his gay dads. Are you, is everything okay? Yeah, this is the varsity soccer team. And they're, you know, they're really nice. Right, guys? And they go, yeah, we're super nice. Nice to meet you, dads. And they look at you and they go,
Starting point is 00:14:53 the only reason we're being nice to you is because your dads seem really sweet. They are really sweet. Yeah. That's not going to do well for you, though, in this school. This is a cutthroat school. No nice parents. No nice parents.
Starting point is 00:15:04 I like, hey, no. I like your parents. Your parents are cool, but you? I get piece of shit vibes from you. Hey, dads, look how fast I can run. Keep the window rolled down. And then I just run into a wall. The windows were down so that the dads are giving me protective cover from the boys. I'm going to run to the detention office.
Starting point is 00:15:21 Good job, Link. Keep those knees up. Next, a silver sedan drives up. In the front seat, a powerful feminine figure, because all women are powerful, is driving. This is Veronica Marlowe-Stampler.
Starting point is 00:15:32 In the seat next to her, turned around completely to face the back seat, is Veronica's husband, Terry. Veronica says, uh, Terry Jr.
Starting point is 00:15:38 And the man in the front seat does not react because he knows he is not being addressed. Who is being addressed, Beth? Teresa Marlowe in the back is being addressed, but it is certainly not acting like she's being addressed. She's not responding to that at all. And her arms are crossed and she's sighing very
Starting point is 00:15:55 loudly, like every 15 seconds. So Veronica says, sorry, scary. Yes. Scary. None of this Terry Jr. bullshit. I just meet this guy, and then, like, suddenly, I'm a junior? Like, he... I understand it's inconvenient that your father, my new husband, has the same name as you, but we had to come up with some... I mean, yes. If you don't want to be Terry Jr., if you'd rather be scary, that's perfect. I feel like you'd call your stepdad Terry Jr. because you're like, I was here first.
Starting point is 00:16:24 Yeah, he's Terry Jr. I'm a seniority in this family. Yeah. So you just keep calling me scary. Yeah, no, I will scare you. Because I am. And scary stares at Terry Jr. like really intensely, upsettingly, just stares.
Starting point is 00:16:42 Terry Jr. goes, I'll ask again just to make sure because you didn't answer me the previous seven times I asked. I thought maybe you couldn't hear me, but is there anything that you need before detention or do you need pens or food? I made lunch and he produces a plastic bag. I don't care. I need you to stop asking me about like things
Starting point is 00:16:59 and like start like understanding because like you're so infuriating. Like you don't even get like anything. Gosh. Terry goes, I would love to understand. And Veronica just goes, it's okay.
Starting point is 00:17:12 She just needs time to, it's just, you just give her some time. I don't have time. The whole world is ending. Look at the windshield. Mom, look at the bug on the windshield.
Starting point is 00:17:20 Mom, it's like dead. And it didn't even really get to live. And neither, neither am I. I'm just like a bug in the back of a car and I got this stupid face looking at me.
Starting point is 00:17:32 Terry goes, oh, I'm going on the trip and I don't want the last thing I say we say to be, you know, her, if you just take the lunch,
Starting point is 00:17:39 I'll be really happy. So could you maybe? And he like tries to like just into your hands with the plastic baggie of just a sandwich. Scary takes it from his hands and then puts it on the, the seat and like leaves it there.
Starting point is 00:17:52 That's chill that you're going like, at least nobody's going to be like watching YouTube and crying over like top 60 inspirational sports moments or something stupid like that. I don't watch all 60 of them. I just watched the miracle on ice. Whatever. So Veronica says like, it's okay, honey.
Starting point is 00:18:08 I'll be taking care of her while you're gone. But say goodbye, Terry, please, for mommy. Say my name. Scary. Say goodbye, Terry. Please.
Starting point is 00:18:17 Goodbye, Terry. Smell you later. She steps out and walks away. The window whirls down and Terry goes, you forgot your lunch. So I'll just, I'll leave it here. And he just opens the car door and puts it on the curb and
Starting point is 00:18:30 then closes the car door and goes, okay, we're leaving now. And then pauses to see if you turn back around and say anything. I don't. Okay. And they drive away and the entire time they drive away, Terry's like looking in the rear view mirror to like keep his eye on you and make sure you're okay. And I try to get the lunch without him noticing me. That's a rule baby
Starting point is 00:18:45 yeah give me a stealth roll i got a two okay so you you do it but he sees you do it and like the last thing you see before the car drives out of view is him smiling a little bit and then 12 soccer players come at you well well well look who we have here. Former soccer star, Terry Marlowe. What happened, Terry? Did you lose your passion for the game? Because we could really use you back. Our girls team.
Starting point is 00:19:16 Six of us are girls. I didn't mention it. We miss you terribly. No, I didn't lose my passion. It's like I got passion in other things, you know? Like more important things. Like what? Well, just like close your eyes and think about this.
Starting point is 00:19:33 12 soccer players close their eyes. You hear the fleshy clap of 12 eyelet slapping shutters. Freddie, I want you to design the fuck out of that. We're designing 12 slaps. Oh, yeah. All right. Butthole Ricochet. That's the name of my new band that I'm forming. That's what you wanted us to imagine?
Starting point is 00:19:52 It's such a visual name. Yeah, but it's like from the heart. And it's like about pain and real. And it's like not this bullshit soccer stuff. Where it's like, that's a game. That's a game. I'm done with games. See you guys in detention.
Starting point is 00:20:10 Or I guess if you're not going to detention. You guys just keep like practicing or whatever, but like, I'm going to go into detention. All right. We'll have fun at detention. They watch you go. A few minutes later, a convertible pulls up, top down, music blaring. In the front seat, a strikingly beautiful and powerful woman, because all women are powerful, adjusts her sunglasses, even though there's no real need for them. This is Cassandra Swift, former daytime TV star and parent to the boy sitting shotgun. She hands the boy a plastic bag bulging with soft corners. It seems to be filled with
Starting point is 00:20:34 a shit ton of video game boxes. She says, you can play these during detention, right? Like they let you play games? Hey, Taylor, I'm happy for you, and I'm going to let you finish, but I just want to say that Glenn Close was the best dad of all time. Of all time. I didn't know you had that prep, man.
Starting point is 00:20:50 Boo. Yep, yep, yep. Detention's so stupid, but I suppose it's just another obstacle on my journey. Yeah, sure. It's another obstacle. Kurama! Yamate kudasai! And my self-driving car comes to a stop.
Starting point is 00:21:04 Because it's the future, Anthony. I have asked you not to do that. I need to be in control of the car. We could get into accidents. I appreciate that you're learning Japanese, but please. I reset the car's language to Japanese so I could control it. I know you need to switch that back. I can't follow the GPS instructions when it's saying stuff in Japanese.
Starting point is 00:21:20 Good luck navigating the menus, mom. Perhaps if you took a little bit more time with manga and a little less time with movies, you'd be in a better position to operate your own vehicle. Oh, that actually gives me some good news. I did get an offer on doing some voice work for an anime for a dub. For doing the voices for an anime dub.
Starting point is 00:21:38 You love anime. I'm doing a voice. Nagisa Hayao, the ninja with the heart of gold, the one that she's like seven years old, like, I'm going to do her voice like this. She's not seven years old. She's 6,000 years old. She's not seven years old. She's 6,000 years old.
Starting point is 00:21:51 They changed it, which is good for me because it's in my range. I thought this would be something we could bond over. It's like I don't even know you anymore, mom. I can't believe it. Hand me my go bag. Your backpack? My go bag.
Starting point is 00:22:05 Yeah, here's your back. She reaches in the back seat and brings you your backpack. It's very heavy. You hear just stuff clanking around in there. Taylor? What? Are there weapons in here? Everything's a weapon when you have the skill set. I'm going to unzip this real quick and make sure that we don't need you to get in detention for another reason. Alright, and she goes through your backpack.
Starting point is 00:22:21 Are there weapons in there? Okay, there's like a Leatherman multi-tool. She takes that out. Oh, come on, Mom. There's a knife in here. I'm screwed something. They make them like that, Mom. It comes with a knife.
Starting point is 00:22:33 You have to explain that to the principal. They all... Fine. This is for your benefit. All right. She takes that out. And then, like, you know,
Starting point is 00:22:39 there's the paracord and, you know, various... She goes, there's no way you need this. Mom? There's no way. Mom? Mom? Roll persuasion with that roll for mom mom mom wow plus zero what's that like uh 13 she walked into the right
Starting point is 00:22:54 room yeah it's her room her car she goes i will leave you a little bit and she takes out all but like a yard of paracord and then tosses that into the back seat little does she know that with even one yard of paracord one can fashiones that into the backseat. Little does she know that with even one yard of paracord, one can fashion any number of survival mechanisms. You have little ceramic chunks, little bits of... You mean ninja rocks, Matt? Knew it.
Starting point is 00:23:13 She would have seen those. She would not have investigated my ninja rocks. I'm going to give her a D20 investigation. No, no, no. Ninja rocks just look like little... Is this really her first encounter? There's no way this is the first time. She knows what they are she knows
Starting point is 00:23:26 she's gonna get advantage on investigating for any ninja rocks okay so she got a five and a nine so this time this time pumps his fist they're in the inseam of them into the bottom of the bag i've got i'm one step ahead this time so ninja rocks i'm assuming are ninja rocks where people don't know it's if you take spark plugs and crush them the chunks of ceramic are hard enough on the most scale that you can literally kind of and we've tried this lightly underhand light toss into any tempered glass window will shatter it really amazing it's like a tiny pebble you just barely throw it at like a car window and it just shatters because it's so hard and sharp don't do that yeah don't do it it's considered thieves tools in a lot of jurisdictions whoa because it shatters it very quietly like to the point where it's like if you did it like on a
Starting point is 00:24:13 quiet night there's a good chance that people will not even hear it also useful tool for us to have maybe that's why that's great okay that's cool that's cool Yes? Who's my dad? Again with this. You want to do this right now. Detention starts in five minutes and you want to do this again. Well, I just got some mail from 23andMe the other day. Yeah? What did it say?
Starting point is 00:24:42 Well, it said that my DNA is actually not human. At first, I thought I screwed it up. I accidentally- It sounds like you screwed it up. But it seems kind of weird, though. Why would they even check for that? Why would they even. Right? That's what I'm saying, Juan.
Starting point is 00:24:50 He definitely submitted like semen or something to 23andMe. Yeah, 23andMe in the future required me to jack off into a tube. If you're going to try to use that to explain why you've been doing it so much, I tell you, I'm not buying it. I'm not buying it, honey. Is my dad part not human or something? It's just so weird. Anyway, I'm going to write a complaint. Your dad was a good man.
Starting point is 00:25:08 He had to go away. I haven't heard from him. I don't know if he's still with us. I miss him every day. I'm sorry that he wasn't around for you. I'm pretty sure he was a guy. I think he was just a human guy. I think he was just a human guy.
Starting point is 00:25:30 I don't think you have alien ghost DNA or whatever it is from one of those mangas you were watching. Ugh, whatever. Bad luck with your audition, Mom. I hope you don't ruin my fave, one of the greatest canonical, greatest animes of all time. I'm actually-
Starting point is 00:25:41 Speeding on the legacy of Hayao Miyazaki. Yeah. I'm just gonna go do my first session today. So you can go ahead and call Lyft to get home when you're out. Or Lyft's helicopter. I don't want to Lyft. I'd rather ride one of those Lyft turbo scooters. Those are dangerous.
Starting point is 00:25:58 Whatever, mom. Okay. Well, I'll see you at home. All right. Love you, mom. Love you, too. Okay. Okay.
Starting point is 00:26:02 Oh. Finally. What do the soccer players do for him? 12 guys. Well, you, Mom. Love you, too. Okay. Finally. What do the soccer players do for him? Well, well, well. If it isn't Mr. Weeb. What's going on? What up, Cucks? Oh, you get a bunch of people who go, oh, as you call them, Cucks.
Starting point is 00:26:18 Wait, can Cucks just be cool? Yeah, Cucks is a really normal word. Cucks is the new bestie. And I dap all of them. I do cool. Oh, oh, oh, it's Taylor. It's Taylor.
Starting point is 00:26:31 It's Taylor. You see any good anime lately, Taylor? Only the best. You subscribe to my sub stack, right? Absolutely. I'm going to write some reviews this weekend. Keep an eye out. Yeah, you're a connection to anime.
Starting point is 00:26:42 There's just too many to watch, but you really narrow down the episodes that we can super watch. When we're all hanging out together, we watch I'm a Lonely Robot in Love, and then halfway through the story, it becomes a different sort of thing that's not quite as good as the first half.
Starting point is 00:26:53 We loved it so much in the first half. All 43 episodes? Well, again, we watched the first 23 because it kind of gets bad in the middle. Yeah, it kind of drops off with the Costco storyline. Yeah, yeah, not a big fan of it. But hey, without you, without your newsletter, we would have definitely wasted another
Starting point is 00:27:07 23 half hours of our lives. So thanks, man. You're the coolest person in school. Oh my god. No problem. And as I say that, and as I say that, I doff my pork pie hat. Oh no. The fedora of the future. The fedora of the future. That's the beauty of the
Starting point is 00:27:23 audio format is you can save off on a horrifying detail like that until the absolute right moment. And we can forget that you have a pork pie hat until you deign to remind us of it for the rest of the series. So wait, just to clarify, there's just the coolest kid in school. According to these 12. Yes, Friday's character is the coolest kid in school
Starting point is 00:27:42 who loves anime, has a ton of sweet weapons, and his hot mom drives a convertible and gives him cool video games, and his mysterious dad is a demon. And those weapons? Freddy is playing. Freddy is the main character. And then Taylor looks into the bag and kind of digs through the games. And it's like, indie game, indie.
Starting point is 00:28:00 Oh, no AAAs? Whatever. It's just another day in the life of Taylor Swift. And then the anime intro plays. As you head into the school as your anime intro theme song plays in your head, a four-seater hybrid pulls up. A normal passerby might double take at it because the driver and shotgun seats seem to be taken up by the same man twice.
Starting point is 00:28:23 Twins. Twins, if you will. I'm not surly. More than a few seconds examination reveals subtle differences between the two twins. One has deep stress lines around his eyes and a beard just on the wrong side of unkempt. The other sports a fragile, wavering smile and a close-cropped beard as well as glasses. Man, this family's fucked. They think I'm their kid normal.
Starting point is 00:28:43 In the back, a powerful woman finishes checking a lunchbox for the 70th time and passes it to the teenage boy next to her. The lunchbox says, swallows ice cream on it in big letters. And the boy is, what does he look like? He looks weird. He doesn't look like a normal boy. The two men, the same man twice. The witness outside of the car sees, in order, the same man twice
Starting point is 00:29:04 and then a boy that's wrong. If I'm going to truly paint the scene, what you see is two twins, a strong, powerful woman, and Jimmy Neutron. Because what you see in the back is Teenie the Teen, the mascot of San Dimas High School. Within the shell of that mascot is normal Oak. So yeah, imagine like a big like a big head and then like yeah a mascot a big mascot head yeah we know what mascots are there's no mascot that has a small head if you will a mascot a big human boy head and then like a sort of like bart simpson-esque t-shirt and shorts but then like imagine like sleeves that
Starting point is 00:29:43 are flesh colored ending flesh colored flesh colored hands and so that's a little cool curl on the hair spit curl i definitely i like the idea that it is a jimmy neutron costume that has just this is important to the public domain where are the eye holes are they like the is it a grinning mouth is it an open grinning mouth and the eyes are the mouth or are the eyes of the eyes like, where are the eye holes? Here's what we'll say. The eye holes are in the mouth, but there's not enough room in the head. It's like shoved pretty far down to fit in the hatchback Prius, I'm assuming. So Normal cannot see all that well right now.
Starting point is 00:30:16 So he kind of fumbles for the lunch pail that his mom has handed him. He says, thanks, Mom. I appreciate it. Your uncle, who's in the front seat who's driving, Lark Oak, turns around and he pulls out a gun and he says,
Starting point is 00:30:29 and he says, so normal, I know you're gonna, I know you're going to detention, there might be some really dangerous kids here, I want you to just keep this in your backpack
Starting point is 00:30:39 and your dad, Sparrow, in the shotgun goes, no, no, what are you doing? You can't have a gun, give me that.
Starting point is 00:30:44 Oh, why not dad, come on. No, he can't. All the cool kids are doing in future hell America. No, Sparrow, in the shotgun goes, no, no, what are you doing? You can't have a gun? Give me that. Oh, why not, Dad? Come on. No, he can't. All the cool kids are doing it in future hell America. No, you can't. He cannot have it. Can you imagine if he gets caught with that?
Starting point is 00:30:51 He'll go to like, I don't know, double detention or whatever. And your mother goes, no, no. The penalty for having a gun in American schools is detention. Is detention. This is the 32nd amendment. So Rebecca says, what if the truth is somewhere in the middle? What if instead of taking the gun or not taking a gun you take my pepper spray instead and she takes pepper spray out of her purse and puts it in your hand and your uncle Lark is like yeah I guess yeah sure that's that's
Starting point is 00:31:16 fine and Sparrow's like that's also seems bad if he gets caught with that but oh god I mean do you really have to wear the costume into detention? Dad, but the costume's the whole reason I have detention. If I take it off now, then what's the point? God, look. Okay, so have you showered? What is the, I'm smelling something, because you didn't take the mascot costume off when you showered, and I don't remember when you showered
Starting point is 00:31:38 or if you showered in a month. And maybe you want to leave the costume in here so I can clean it and you can leave, and then I'll give you the clean costume when you get out of detention. Dad, I appreciate your concern. But as I've explained to you, the punks over at Chaparral High School want to prank the mascot outfit. And no one is taking it seriously, which is why I have to wear it to protect it.
Starting point is 00:31:57 If I leave it at home, who knows what's going to happen to it, you know? And to answer your question, it's been a while since I showered. But I am pretty much naked under here. So, like, I'm not getting my clothes dirty, you know? And to answer your question, it's been a while since I showered, but I am pretty much naked under here, so I'm not getting my clothes dirty. The only thing that's getting dirty is the inside of the mascot costume. It says I'm the only one who's ever going to wear it, because I'm going to be the mascot until I graduate the senior year, and
Starting point is 00:32:15 then I'll probably take it to college with me. It doesn't matter. Normal's a hero. Normal's a fucking hero. Normal's a patriot. Normal cares about the school. Sparrow opens his mouth hero normal the patriot normal cares about the school Sparrow opens his mouth to keep complaining and Lark
Starting point is 00:32:27 waves him down and says it's fine he can keep the costume on while he was asleep I sewed some Kevlar into the front and the back so he's probably safer
Starting point is 00:32:34 in there than he is outside of it he did feel a little come on Uncle Lark I need to be able to do flips in this thing I mean I know I can't do flips yet
Starting point is 00:32:40 but I want to learn it's not gonna be easy with lead bulletproof stuff in here with class 3A armor in here well hey if you feel like you can't do flips then maybe I can't do flips yet, but I want to learn. It's not going to be easy with lead bulletproof stuff in here. With class 3A armor in here. Well, hey, if you feel like you can't do flips, then maybe I can teach you things that are not a complete waste of time, like hunting or survival or talking to girls or talking to boys
Starting point is 00:32:55 or talking to anybody. Do you have a friend yet? Does your kid have a friend yet? He goes, no, he doesn't have a friend yet. Give him time. It's fine. He's allowed to take his time. I would love it if you had a friend, though.
Starting point is 00:33:04 Your mother and I are pretty worried about you. Look, guys, Teenie the Teen is the most popular teen at San Dimas High. And if I'm Teenie the Teen, people are going to like me. You just got to give it time. So Sparrow again. And Rebecca, the wise three-dimensional mom, says, just, hon, just give him time. He'll realize. It's Teenie, go ahead and go off to detention,
Starting point is 00:33:26 and we're so proud of you, teeny. He's so wise. That's me. I also did a lot of stuff before I met your dad. I'm the one who founded this ice cream empire that is on your lunchbox, swallows ice cream. That's me. My husband is an heiress.
Starting point is 00:33:44 Good for Sparrow. Good for Sparrow. I better go. The ice cream melts pretty quick in this thing. So I'm going to go and try not to splash it on the inside of the mascot costume. I love you guys. And I'm sorry I got detention. But I feel like it was a good cause, the reason.
Starting point is 00:33:58 So I'm not that sorry. And then Normal takes the pepper spray from his mom and climbs out of the car. And then you head out of the car and, well, well, well, it's a mascot. What's up, my cuckolds? You can't call us that. And I start doing like a cheer routine. I'm like, it's the boys soccer team. You guys are going to go all the way this year.
Starting point is 00:34:16 It's going to be great. I just totally believe in you. Yeah, I mean, you know, honestly, the sight of you kind of takes the joy out of our school. We're all teens here. We've got teen spirit, don't we? Yeah. No, we have a lot of teen spirit. It's just like you're a lot.
Starting point is 00:34:29 I'm a lot? Well, this whole team's a lot. There's a lot going on. And we're going to take all of that and bring it to state this year. Hands in the middle, everybody. Oh, God. And they all put their hands in the middle. I'm sorry.
Starting point is 00:34:39 It's just. Give me a T. We don't have to go through the whole thing. Give me a T. T. Give me an E. E. Give me an E. E. Give me an E.
Starting point is 00:34:46 E. How many E's did I do? You did two E's. That's team. That's teaming the team. Wow, you guys don't even know the math. We'll work on it. I thought we were just doing the word team.
Starting point is 00:34:53 You want to do the, oh, God, thank you. You know, you should go to detention. It's taking so much self-control not to bully you right now. We're trying to be a positive force in school. I appreciate it. And then Normal walks off whistling the school theme, which is Bad Guy by Billie Eilish. And they're fighting Eilish.
Starting point is 00:35:10 That's what we call a team. Oh my God. Eilish, no. And he heads off to detention. You all open the door to the history classroom and you see Mrs. K, the history teacher and today's detention teacher, sitting at her desk playing on her phone.
Starting point is 00:35:23 And she says, all right, everybody sit down. Time for detention. No fun. Welcome to the no fun zone. For a couple of you, you're seeing familiar faces by seeing each other. So Normal and Link, you used to see a lot of each other at like these quasi-weekly get-togethers that your parents would throw you because your parents were friends and you would go to like grills and stuff like that.
Starting point is 00:35:40 But as of lately, Normal, your dad, Lark, and Link, your dad, Grant, both have wanted you to sort of separate out a little bit more. You stopped going to these cookouts. They started getting protective. You got the vibe from both of your parents separately that the other kids might be a bad influence. So this is maybe the first time you've actually had the chance to be in the same room together in quite a while. Especially Taylor Swift. 100% bad influence.
Starting point is 00:36:02 Who's the coolest kid in school, though, actually. Who's already got his feet up and is already playing his Nintendo. Yeah, and then I guess... They're called Nintendos in the future. Great. And then I guess, Scary, everybody here is more or less new to you because you just recently had Terry Jr. come into your life. Link definitely knew of Scary because she's a really good soccer player.
Starting point is 00:36:20 Lincoln! Oh, hey. Linky Binky! Linky Binky Fofinky. Yeah, hey, what's up? I hear you're going to join the soccer team this year, man. What's up? Yeah, I'm on JV. Cool, cool. I march over and sit right next to Lincoln. It's been so long since I've seen you, dude.
Starting point is 00:36:34 I know our dads are like, but it's like, you know, I miss you. Boom, boom, boom. And I punch him on the shoulder a bunch. It wouldn't hurt that much because he's Jimmy Neutron. It's me under here. It's normal. I'm the team. Can I roll for constitution to see if it hurt It's me under here. It's normal. I'm the team. Can I roll for constitution to see if it hurt me? Sure.
Starting point is 00:36:48 I'm very tall, but I'm very weak. I'm fast, but weak. Roll with advantage because he does have foam hands on. It was 19. Yeah, no, it doesn't hurt at all. I still say ow. Ow. Sure.
Starting point is 00:36:58 Hey, yeah, sorry, man. Didn't mean to razz you, but what's going on? You know, not much. It feels like you've been avoiding me. Yeah, well, you know, you're dangerous. Well, I mean, your dad's or, you know, yeah. Mrs. K goes, you're in detention. You're not supposed to like talk in detention.
Starting point is 00:37:13 Can you tell him that? Yeah, he's talking to me. Everybody, hey, hey, stop talking. We're starting detention. The fun stops now. You can't socialize. The fun stopped a long time ago. I write a note to Scary and try to throw it to her.
Starting point is 00:37:23 Okay, roll stealth. Do people send notes now? Is that a thing? Did we just out ourselves as the oldest human beings of all time? Yeah, I guess it's like people text each other.
Starting point is 00:37:32 You can't text Walt in class. I think you can. I mean, not Lincoln. I feel like the first thing that happens when you come in is probably Mrs. K takes your phone. So yeah, so Mrs. K
Starting point is 00:37:43 rolled a natural one on her perception. I tell Mrs. K now, there were 12 ap, so yeah. So Mrs. K rolled a natural one on her perception. I tell Mrs. K now, there were 12 apes on this phone when I gave it to you. There better be 12 when I get it back. Yes, you successfully throw your note to Scary without getting noticed.
Starting point is 00:37:55 What does the note say? There's a yes and no checkbox. Oh my God. And it says, are you going to join the varsity team? They need you. And I give a thumbs up. I write back and like scribbled hardcore,
Starting point is 00:38:07 like, like writing. I'll think about it. Probably not though. And you don't give the note back. You're just coming out in the note after writing. I'll think about it on. So he doesn't know what the answer is.
Starting point is 00:38:16 I crumble it up. It was like pristinely folded by crumble it up. I throw it back. Okay. Do you want to do it sneakily or not? I don't want to do it sneakily. I want to do it because I'm really good at it. Like I'm just up and I throw it back. Okay, do you want to do it sneakily or not? I don't want to do it sneakily. I want to do it because I'm really good at it. Like I'm just like a perfect throw,
Starting point is 00:38:29 but I think that she probably will catch me. Let me roll for it. Okay. Roll for advantage because normal's big head is blocking the teacher's view right now. Yeah, that's it. I got a five. Okay, so with a five, you throw it,
Starting point is 00:38:40 it lands on the ground and Mrs. K sees it and she goes, can we not with the notes? And she looks at you, Link, and she goes, she it and she goes if can we not with the notes and she looks at you link and she goes she says she'll think about it no more notes please and she crumples it up and throws it you just asked the scary girl out on a date what no what yeah right so cool you're already you're already you know put yourself out there really appreciate it i support you that's great no she's just like really good at soccer. I turn Jimmy Neutron's head around like backwards to look at Scary. And I'm like, he's a really great guy. You should give him a chance.
Starting point is 00:39:15 Okay, everybody, calm down. Calm down. It's detention. Before we start your proper punishment, I think you all should throw yourselves upon the mercy of detention and just maybe talk a little bit about how you're sorry about what you did and how you're going to not do what got you here again. Anybody feel free to go. I'll go.
Starting point is 00:39:33 Yep. Ladies and gentlemen of detention, I ask you this. Is it a crime to love your school? No. I mean, Scary Junior, what do you guys think? I think it depends on what you think love is. So, well, I mean, it's not a crime. We're not here because we're criminals.
Starting point is 00:39:51 Well, did he fuck the school or did he just like it? Scary language. That's okay. I did not French the school, but I did try to protect our beloved mascot from getting punked because I support the teams at this school. Y'all are going to go to state this year because we're not going to let Chaparral destroy this beloved institution and humiliate us by ruining the costume.
Starting point is 00:40:14 So I can't say that I formally apologize, but I am sorry. And I do like big finger quotes with that, that I love San Dimas high school. But your fingers don't go all the way to the end of the like mascots fingers. You see two little fingers poking out of one finger of the glove. That's great.
Starting point is 00:40:30 So Mrs. K knows that it's probably not worth arguing with you further. This is probably not the first conversation you've had. So she goes, cool. Anyone else next? Yeah. Let me just start by saying, is it a crime to be drawing manga in class?
Starting point is 00:40:43 I contend no. It was just a little bit of extracurricular activities in the middle of a boring math class, which nobody's going to ever need after this anyway. It is a crime to just disrespect your teacher and not pay attention in class. It is not a crime. If you don't believe me.
Starting point is 00:40:58 Damn. Normal's not going to argue with him. Thank you, Normal. After immediately saying he's not going to argue with him. That's why Normal's my favorite student and why I'm not going to continue arguing with arguing with him so yeah i got caught drawing anime about my awesome life and how one day i'm gonna be the hero that this world needs because there needs to be some changes around here and i think i'm gonna be the one to do it you just fucked yourself because now
Starting point is 00:41:23 that's something we have to have as bonus content on the Patreon. It's the fucking manga that Taylor drew for himself. Oh, I'll draw it. Here's what I'll do. Listener, this is my pledge to you, Freddie Wong, a content creator, to you, listener of Dungeons and Daddies. To you, content
Starting point is 00:41:39 consumer. Oh my God. Okay, go on. I will go on YouTube and look at how to draw anime eyes really good. I will create a deviant art and this will be a manga pen. Somehow Taylor is even more Freddy than Clint is Freddy.
Starting point is 00:41:56 Yeah, it's like so, oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Apple doesn't fall far from the weeb. Damn. All right, anybody else? Okay, let me get this over with because I don't even think I fucking, I mean, freaking belong here.
Starting point is 00:42:10 So I turned in a book report last week, and it was about the diary of Anne Frank. I realize now that by saying that, when I tried to self-publish my diary and what was wrong about the way you did it that by focusing on my struggles which are still like super dark yeah yeah that, which is like, even though my struggles are like super dark and nobody understands them and like really devastating,
Starting point is 00:42:50 that maybe by like saying that in my Diary of Anne Frank thing and then also saying that she was like kind of being dramatic about like some stuff. You compared yourself to Anne Frank and said you had it worse than she did. Only like in my soul. Okay, do you feel sorry about that at all? I feel sorry for the both of us.
Starting point is 00:43:10 Me and Anne. Okay. Me and Anne. And I feel like we're kind of like, yeah, I'm sorry, whatever. Yeah, you belong here. And Link, Lincoln Lee Wilson, please. I think it's weird that we're all taught we
Starting point is 00:43:25 don't have to tell everybody what we do no i think you should definitely tell everybody why you're i think actually everybody already knows it i assume it spread pretty quickly amongst okay i'm sorry yeah i i peed on a teacher's foot it's not you did i didn't mean to do it i shouldn't his foot i didn't hear who that was that's metal no i didn't do it i shouldn't be here like are you suggesting that you should be allowed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time it's not my fault where was that in the alley behind the school because the boys look it was scared the boys of schools or those alleys around them on the wall of our beloved school link i stay hydrated because i gotta perform very well and i had to
Starting point is 00:44:05 go to the bathroom and those they're mean in the locker room so like they were gonna give me a hard time they came in like oh look he doesn't even have hair on his face or whatever and like he's tall and his voice sounds hilarious and like i can't pee during that so like i just went behind the back and i went to pee like away from everybody i wasn't gonna show anybody anything i was just going by myself and then i don't know what she was doing. Why is the teacher back there? She should be working. God. Anyway, she scared me. I spun around and yeah, the piss, whatever.
Starting point is 00:44:30 I'm sorry. Thank you for apologizing, Lincoln. That's very adult of you. So who was the teacher? Ms. Anderson. The one who did the hook on me in the hall. I'm not a human biology teacher. The urology teacher?
Starting point is 00:44:41 The urologist. Yeah, the urology teacher. We have a purchasing urology department. It's the new trade of teacher. We have a burgeoning urology department. It's the new trade of the future. It's like when your school has a shop class. We have a urology department. Yep, that's all canon. Okay, everybody stop talking.
Starting point is 00:44:55 It's time for detention to properly start. Six hours of total silence starting now. You hear the sound of like a control stick. Like Mrs. K. Go ahead and roll stealth. Stealth. You mean the one I have plus three on 21. Jesus Christ.
Starting point is 00:45:12 Yeah, she doesn't hear it. Yeah, baby. Guess what, bitch? It's another season of me owning your ass on the dice, bitch. Damn. I already hate season two. Yeah, she doesn't notice you playing. So she's staying in the classroom? She's staying in the classroom with you.
Starting point is 00:45:22 If we just have to be quiet, can I just like practice practice can i just like juggle in here soccer ball soccer ball can i just practice no that's not gonna be quiet i'm gonna hear the funk funk funk of you hitting it normal is going to roll a stealth check to see if you can whisper to link okay go ahead i got a natural 20 so did she shit really what happens what happens now it means you think that she didn't hear and she hears and doesn't convey that she heard. Okay, but that means I lost. What, is my natural 20 not good for anything? Maybe she hears me, but...
Starting point is 00:45:53 She thinks it's cool. Yeah, whatever you say, she thinks it's cool as hell. Well, this is the most powerful OP move you could possibly do. Hey, Lincoln, do you talk to Taylor Swift that much anymore? No, I don't talk to you very much either. Well, I know. I just, cause he seems weird lately. Like I haven't talked to him in a while. Like, you know, and I kind of miss not hanging out with you cause we're buds, but like, I was kind of relieved to not have to hang out with Taylor anymore. Oh, that's a lot. Um, you should tell him that. Don't tell me that. Why would I tell him that? What are you guys gossiping about? What? You guys are gossiping.
Starting point is 00:46:25 We're not gossiping. Teacher, I'm trying to be quiet and there's a lot, I don't want to say who's doing it, but there's a lot of- Teacher, we got a pussy in here. First of all, hey,
Starting point is 00:46:32 that's two strikes on the problematic chart for you, honey. Oh, what happens? Do you cancel me? Yes, I do. You get canceled from school.
Starting point is 00:46:41 Oh, I get called out, called out of school. Whatever. I've been called out by my own heart. Here at Santimus High, the teen spirit believes in calling people in, not calling them out. No wonder you smell like teen spirit.
Starting point is 00:46:54 Yeah, Mrs. K goes, man, that's really cool, that kid, to ask him if the other kid, if he still talks to that other kid. I love it when kids try to maintain relationships with their peers. How cool. He gracefully slid in the exposition he wanted to so well. Your stock has risen in the eyes of Mrs. K. And yeah, you remember there was a time when Taylor Swift's mom would bring him around
Starting point is 00:47:15 and would just sort of hang out with your parents for a bit and shoot the ship. But that time has passed. So the hours pass very, very slowly. Actually, they pass pretty fast when you're playing a visual novel. For all but one of you, the hours pass very, very slowly. Actually, they pass pretty fast when you're playing a visual novel. For all but one of you, the hours pass very, very slowly. Nice. After a long, long time, all but one of you feel that something is off. Your adrenaline slowly starts pumping and then gets faster.
Starting point is 00:47:38 Your heart starts beating faster and faster. That's happening for me, too. Yeah, because you're on a raid, yes. The visual novel has gotten to the second act turn. In the future, they have raids in visual novels. I'm trying to level up our fucking experience. Your heart starts beating faster and faster. You're panicking and you do not know why.
Starting point is 00:47:54 Probably because my dating meter's really low. Again, not you. The other three. You feel like you're being chased by something. You feel like it's gaining on you. You feel like you were about to die. And then you realize it's not you. You're not the one feeling this. Your dads
Starting point is 00:48:08 are. Somewhere, something awful is chasing them. All of them. It gets closer and closer. Well, I guess for you, scary. It's your stepdad, not your dad. Do I feel this as well? No, you don't feel this. But for the three of you, it gets closer and closer. And then there's a scream of four
Starting point is 00:48:23 voices. All of your dads or stepdad or uncle, screaming in unison. You, through your father's minds, feel yourselves watching them. And all of you, again, except for you, Taylor, know that for certain, your fathers are going to die if you cannot find them and save them. And they're going to die soon.
Starting point is 00:48:38 Normal, you feel your uncle and your father tell you to stay safe. Link, you feel your father tell you to take care of your daddy, Marco, and love him very much. Scary, you feel Terry's tell you to take care of your daddy, Marco, and love him very much. Scary, you feel Terry's sadness that he didn't get time to know you better. You also get the unquestionable sense
Starting point is 00:48:51 that your fathers love you, and you feel them say goodbye. And then suddenly the screams cut out, and all of you are left in silence. Mrs. K hasn't moved. She doesn't seem to have noticed. I throw up in the helmet. Oh, God.
Starting point is 00:49:04 Oh, I'm so sorry. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I gotta go. I gotta go call my dad. And I throw up in the helmet. Oh, God. Oh, I'm so sorry. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I gotta go. I gotta go call my dad. And I run out of the room. I scream, Dad. And I run out of the room.
Starting point is 00:49:11 As you all head toward the door to run out of the room, there's a knock, and then the door just opens and, dunk, hits you in the head, normal. And a man in a black suit now stands in the doorway.
Starting point is 00:49:20 I run past him. He watches you go and says, Stop. No. And I run. It's about your dad oh you just keep running walk and talk man come on where are you running to i'm gonna go run to talk to my dad to tell him about grant i got i got what the man goes and takes out a device from his coat pocket looks like
Starting point is 00:49:42 a remote control and points it at you and... You die. Yeah, you evaporate. You feel something hit you in the lower back and electrical charge goes through your body and you go rigid and you fall to the ground. He goes, it's... Stop. What the fuck, Digwad?
Starting point is 00:49:57 Holy shit. And he turns to Mrs. K and he says, I have... It's from the superintendent of the school and he takes out a badge from his pocket and he shows it to her. And then he takes out a letter and hands it to her. And she looks through this as the man goes in the hallway and throws you over his shoulder and brings you back to the room. And Mrs. K says, oh, okay.
Starting point is 00:50:16 Apparently the principal suggested community service in lieu of finishing out your detention today. Wait, who's this guy? We've already been here for like six hours. Yeah, well, you've been here for three six hours. Yeah, and for the last, well, you've been here for three and for the last three, I guess you're doing community attention.
Starting point is 00:50:28 He pulls the Doomy Neutron off his face, revealing his sweaty face, pimple marks, greasy hair, hasn't bathed in a week, covered in vomit, and says,
Starting point is 00:50:38 Miss K, something horrible's happening to our dads. I don't know who this guy is, but he's probably involved. You gotta help us. So roll a persuasion. I got a four.
Starting point is 00:50:46 She got a five. So she goes, it's signed by the superintendent. It's got the C. It's just three more hours. You'll probably be like de-weeding the school lawn. Don't worry about it.
Starting point is 00:50:55 Don't you know? You don't understand. No, I clearly don't. The man with the suit gets close to you and he whispers like, I can take you to your dad's. Why would I want to go to my dad?
Starting point is 00:51:03 I mean, my stepdad. Not even my real dad. Because if you don't, he'll die. I guess that wouldn't be cool. Taylor stands and confidently struts over to this gentleman, sticks his hand out for a handshake and says, Taylor Swift, and who might you be? I guess roll persuasion or charm or something to see if he wants to shake your hand. Eight. He does not shake your hand. Eight. He does not shake your hand. He goes, that's classified.
Starting point is 00:51:29 I knew it. He opens the door wider and ushers you forward. He goes, we're headed to the parking lot. And he leads you out to the parking lot. And Taylor has a beaming smile on his face because this is all of his dreams coming true like he knew would happen. And he goes like, oh, yeah, I guess you can come too. As he sees you, Taylor. I do not notice this. I'm just strutting. You are led to a limousine.
Starting point is 00:51:48 The man in the suit opens the door and ushers you in. Taylor tries to get in first. Does anybody try to stop him? No. Normal has grabbed a bunch of paper towels on the way out and is trying to scoop the vomit out of the helmet. Great. Wait, Mr. Classified, where the fuck are we going? You'll find out when we get there. It's not a long drive. What? You said
Starting point is 00:52:04 we were going to do weeds or whatever here. No where's my dad where's my father it's classified i'm not i'm not allowed to know and you're allowed to know but i'm not allowed to tell you because i don't know now i what that's a tom clancy ass fucking improv right there yeah i do kind of remember hearing something about adults and strangers and not getting into cars when people say they know your dad that was like the don't get into the stranger car video number one was like they come up and say they know your dad. Chill out normal it's fucking metal to get into cars with strangers. Hey there's a there's like sodas and like candies in this limousine guys. There are a lot of sodas and
Starting point is 00:52:38 candies. Maybe there's a body in the back. While this is going on normal has pulled up a stranger danger video on YouTube and is showing it there. I'm like, yeah, see, like, there's, see this creepy guy with his hand? On the video, you see the guy. Yeah. It's the same guy.
Starting point is 00:52:51 It's the same guy wearing the same suit. He didn't even answer any, what's my dad's name? Your dad's name is Sparrow Oak and your uncle's name is Lark Oak. Well, but wait, we just, I pepper spray him. Okay, great. Roll dexterity to see if you can use the pepper spray properly. I got a natural one.
Starting point is 00:53:06 Okay, so you pepper spray yourself directly in the car. You pepper spray yourself in the face. Scary thinks that is the coolest thing ever. The guy just grabs you and tosses you into the car. He just tossed normal. Were you in the car or did you not get in the car? No, I tried to run again. Everybody else is in the car though?
Starting point is 00:53:21 Yeah. Taylor's definitely in the car. Yeah, Scary's in the car. So you hear chunk chunk as the car doors lock. And he goes, and he gets in the driver's seat in the car though yeah taylor's definitely in the car yeah scary's in the car so you hear chunk as the car doors lock and he goes and he gets in the driver's seat of the car and just starts chasing you down with the car so go ahead and roll dexterity and see if you can evade his car that's a 17 plus 3 that's a 20 jesus christ i do some cool soccer moves too okay got some footwork he tries to drive the car like right next to you and you just juke him very easily down a side street
Starting point is 00:53:50 and you seem to have lost him for a second. I guess, what are you going to do now? Because you're not at the school. Call anybody out there. Where are the 12 soccer players? Oh, that's true. You lose the limo behind you, but then you hear the tromp of 12 pairs of feet
Starting point is 00:54:04 as they come up and they go, well, well, well. Looks like somebody's trying to get out of detention. We believe in serving time as a sign. No, no, no. This guy, this guy, this is my dad's dying. This guy's trying to go. Fuck you. You guys are mean.
Starting point is 00:54:17 Then they run. You can go ahead and roll something if you want to get a natural 20 and evade the grips of six people. No, I got 17. So you have six pairs of arms, wrap around you, go, well, well, somebody doesn't want to go de-weed the lawn in school. We believe in having a well-weeded lawn because we're soccer players, and it helps us get more
Starting point is 00:54:34 traction. Me too, but that's not what this is about. You want us to lose, you little jealous JV. Yeah, does the JV stand for jealous boy? I'm a freshman. Jealous virgin. What? That's not about what does that have to do with anything? Well, well, well, jealous virgin, it's time to pay the piper. You feel yourself get hoisted up by six soccer players, and they go,
Starting point is 00:54:52 Yoo-hoo, limo guy, and they drag you out of the room. Here's the virgin you're missing. You take him to virgin jail. Holy shit, virgin jail. The limo driver pulls up and rolls down the window and he goes, yes, I'm taking them to virgin jail. This is why my dad didn't want me to go to school. This is horrible. I love my dad.
Starting point is 00:55:12 I was like, I pulled it. Oh, he's in the trunk. Yeah, they put you in the trunk. They go, ha ha, take them to virgin jail. And they slap the trunk twice and he goes, thank you. You're so helpful. I'm so glad I ran into you. And they go, anytime. Hey, why are you taking those kids? And he drives away. I'm so glad I ran into you.
Starting point is 00:55:22 And they go, anytime. Hey, why are you taking those kids? And he drives away. So the limousine drives for a little while. You are driven to a perfectly boring, nondescript corporate plaza, the kind with tons of small buildings all belonging to different offices like dentists and shit. Die when you die. The limo stops outside of a building with a sign reading DADDIES on it in all caps.
Starting point is 00:55:46 This doesn't look like a virgin jail. This looks like a BDSM fucking podcast. In parentheses, it says not a BDSM thing underneath it. Not a BDSM corporation. The doors pop open, the trunk pops open, and you hear the man who drove you here say, get out, go inside. He just drives away, just leaving you alone in the parking lot. What? Oh, okay.
Starting point is 00:56:03 He just leaves? He just leaves. What a pro. If he's just a limo driver to go to all that work of tasering people and chasing them down, A for effort. Yeah. So there's a set of glass double doors leading into this little building. Come on, everyone.
Starting point is 00:56:15 Clearly, destiny awaits us and it doesn't do us any good to turn away from it. I guess, Ashley, I agree with you. Nice. Okay, so as you try the door, it is locked. You hear a sound. You try the door again and it remains locked. Oh, don't worry. I guess, actually, I agree with you. Nice. Okay, so as you try the door, it is locked. You hear an sound. You try the door again, and it remains locked. Oh, don't worry. I got something for this, and I reach into my go bag.
Starting point is 00:56:32 Okay. Get your ninja rocks? Well, yeah, you said it's a glass double door, right? A ninja rock that door. Okay, so as you reach into your bag to get ninja rocks, actually, everybody roll perception. Got a four. Fourteen. Seven. Actually, everybody roll perception. Got a four. 14.
Starting point is 00:56:46 Seven. Okay, so nobody sees anything. It's what you hear first that makes you turn. You hear the slap of bare flesh on concrete, and you turn around. Yeah, I said flesh. You turn around to see an infant. What?
Starting point is 00:57:04 A human baby stepping towards you with adult posture, a straight back, long strides, no wobbling in its gait is entirely naked except for a diaper. And it is walking towards you fast. The slap of its bare feet on asphalt getting quicker and quicker. It stares blankly at you. Does anyone see that baby? Um, uh, hello baby? That's the most
Starting point is 00:57:25 fucked up thing I've ever seen. You're going to be a soccer player one day. Look at that walk. What a cute guy. Hey, what's up, buddy? It opens its mouth. It bears two rows of fully formed adult teeth. It gnashes them together faster and faster. It flies into a dead sprint like the T-1000. I'm going to try and throw
Starting point is 00:57:41 these ninja rocks at the window. How many are you going to use? I will say that I had, let's do a 1D4, and that's how many I have. Okay. And then I will roll for one of them. So I had in my pocket three of them. Because you have three. Roll a D20. If you get more than a 10, it'll break the window.
Starting point is 00:57:56 11. Ooh. So at 11, the window cracks. Quietly. It doesn't shatter entirely, but there's a hole in it. There are cracks in the facade of the window. The baby keeps running at you. I want to kick it like a soccer ball So one thing that we're gonna change mechanically is you're not gonna have to roll to hit him
Starting point is 00:58:11 You're just automatically gonna hit him and you're just gonna roll your damage Sure, just give me a d4 roll and we'll see how much damage that does. Link is definitely like Looks back at his carry and be like, oh she sees the one-star kicker. That was really good I got to just carry it and be like, oh, she's supposed to be a kicker. That was really good. We had a good kick. Three.
Starting point is 00:58:27 Oh, no. The tip of your foot finds purchase in its round baby belly. Tip of my foot? Am I a fucking toe kicker? Come on, I'm a soccer player. Oh, you're a soccer player. The fucking laces, baby. I'm JV.
Starting point is 00:58:39 I'm not a fucking idiot. The inside of your foot? No, the top. The top of the foot. The laces. Okay, so the the flat of your... The inside of your foot? No, the flat of the top. The flat of the foot. The laces. Okay, so the laces of your foot impact on the soft, bouncy belly of this baby. And it goes...
Starting point is 00:58:52 But now your foot is right within grabbing reach of it. Uh-oh. So I don't kick it away. No, you don't kick it away. Your foot just... It does that anime thing where its feet dig into the gravel and they fucking just tear up asphalt
Starting point is 00:59:04 as it holds you back. It feels like the center of gravity of this baby is way lower than it should be. thing where like its feet dig into the gravel and they're like fucking like just tear up asphalt as it holds you back it feels like the center of gravity of this baby is way lower than it should be like this baby has way more mass than it should for its size it's like kicking a medicine ball it's kicking a medicine it's exactly what it feels like kicking a medicine ball was it ali mcbeal with the cg dancing yeah yeah early days the baby reaches forward with its small, fat fingered baby hands and grabs your ankle and its fingers sink into your ankle like softly. And initially it doesn't hurt. And then it hurts a whole lot.
Starting point is 00:59:32 Ow. So you take three damage, Link. Okay. Link, your soccer foot. He only has one, man. That's his golden foot. That's the soccer foot. Don't make fun.
Starting point is 00:59:40 I know good soccer players can kick with both feet, but I'm learning. I'm trying. Oh God. Ow. That's a third of my health, by the way. I want to try to kick the face. All right. So you kick it in the face.
Starting point is 00:59:49 And the moment she's winding up, I'm like, I should kick the face. I'm going to slide tackle the face. So I'm actually kind of coming up like, you know what? I'll do fucking cleats up. A dirty slide tackle. Oh, shit. Red card. A dirty slide tackle to the face.
Starting point is 01:00:03 So essentially, I'm hitting her with the bottom of my shoe. Okay. So that'll do another D4 damage. Three. Okay, three. You feel the baby's skull compress as your heel punctures into it. But then you feel like the baby's skull like reforming itself like around your foot. And you feel something wet and warm as its mouth gets like a little bit bigger and a little bit bigger.
Starting point is 01:00:23 And it starts to encircle your heel. then the rest of your foot is and it's like trying to like swallow your foothold or at least get your entire foot in its mouth wow it really just has to have in the bets character oh no i didn't think about it all right normal would you like to do anything normal removes the big jimmy neutron head and wants to bring it down with thunderous force onto the baby such that I kind of like disconnect your guys' feet from it and trap it under the helmet. I feel like we're trying to pull away.
Starting point is 01:00:53 Yeah, you guys are trying to pull away. I'm trying to break the connection and trap it under the helmet. I have to say the idea that you put that mask back on after throwing up in your head. I cleaned it out. Okay. With paper towels and no soap or water.
Starting point is 01:01:06 Paper towels and a little bit of spit. Oh, God. That smells really good after a while. There was a Diet Coke in the limousine and I poured that in there and used it to scrub it. Okay, so give me a I feel like that's kind of sleight of hand to very specifically get him. I got a nine. Okay, so he'll roll
Starting point is 01:01:21 opposed. You got a two. Stupid baby. You can't roll fucking dice, so you'll roll opposed. You got a two. Ooh! Stupid baby. Stupid baby can't roll fucking dice. So you trap this baby. So, and it spits out Scary's foot as it sees that coming and goes. It's like that one guy in the pod race before he explodes. You bring the mascot helmet down
Starting point is 01:01:41 and trap the baby inside for a second. You suddenly hear a voice over the radio say, Get inside, get inside. And the doors snap open, and then they shatter. I look at the broken glass, and I look over, and I'm like, I've opened the door. Get on inside, everyone. I run, but because I'm not leaving this mascot helmet behind,
Starting point is 01:01:59 I do pick the mascot helmet back up as I run. Then it tries to chase. Well, I guess it chases after you. I feel like maybe I pick it up and like there's no baby on the ground. Because it's like splintered itself on the inside. And I haven't noticed yet. That's funny. Good news, guys.
Starting point is 01:02:14 The baby disappeared. And then I put the helmet back on. And you hear breathing above you in the helmet. And your eyes slowly move up. And you see the baby spread eagle with its arms and legs like keeping itself suspended the very top of the thing and it's looking at you with very big eyes and then it drops onto your head and starts like clawing at your face.
Starting point is 01:02:32 Normal, lose that fucking mask. I dive and try to take the mask off. Alright, give me a dexterity roll or something. That's a 22. You get the mask off easily and it's just the baby is just clawing on Normal's face. It smells like vomit so I also, I punt the mask over the fence it's just the baby is just clawing on Normal's face. It smells like vomit so I also, I punt the mask
Starting point is 01:02:46 over the fence. Roll a d20. You're thinking protect the mask. Oh my god. Strength roll? Yeah, strength check. That's a 15.
Starting point is 01:02:55 Yeah, you kick it over the fence. And then I'm going to wind up my big heavy go bag and then try and hit the baby off of Normal's head. Okay, roll dexterity
Starting point is 01:03:03 to see if you hit the baby and not Normal. 10. Okay, roll dexterity to see if you hit the baby and not normal. 10. Okay, so with a 10, you hit normal in the temple and it doesn't actually hit the baby at all. I think it's both. Probably both. Yeah, I guess it's both, but like...
Starting point is 01:03:14 Does he have to roll for damage against my head? A 10's bad, Freddy. That's bad. Shut up, Matt. Yeah, roll a D4. That's how much damage normal takes. One damage. Oh, jeez.
Starting point is 01:03:23 Not quite what I planned, but come on, let's get inside. So as you're running into this building down like carpeted hallways, a woman appears in front of you in the hallway and says down and takes out a blue marble from her coat pocket and throws it. And it hits the ground, explodes, and a blue acrid smoke fills the air.
Starting point is 01:03:42 The baby growls, grabbing at its eyes, gnashing at the empty air. It lets go of your head normal. And it starts swinging around blindly, trying to grab each of you. And she goes, kids, come with me if you want to not die. Come on, come on. There's a baby. Yeah, I know. I know. I know. You just need to follow me. Come on, follow me. So she leads you to an elevator and ushers you all in and then presses a button. She says, I am Chief May Hales of Daddies. And that name was sent into us by May Hales, so thank you for your name, Mae. And when the elevator doors open, you are not where you were
Starting point is 01:04:08 before. I guess that's how elevators work. Whoa, ladies! This elevator brought us to a different place! This magic room took us to a different room! Oh my god. Guys, I don't know where we are. Wait a minute! Lady, what's going on here? We were just in the place
Starting point is 01:04:24 and now we're in a different place. One of your characters is in the elevator. Link stays in the elevator and he presses the door closed and he's like, wait, I can't do that again. He presses the door open and he's in the same room because nobody pressed any buttons for four.
Starting point is 01:04:41 After the sky turned red, knowledge of elevators vanished from the earth. Specifically that. Everybody lost. Yeah. So this is the only elevator in the world. Wait, is it that knowledge of them or they actually like, it's like every time we see an elevator we forget. All elevators disappeared and everyone forgot what they were. There was like, why are these shafts in the middle of
Starting point is 01:04:57 buildings? We don't understand. Okay. Yeah, it's just a distraction. We should just build another stairwell here. Why do they have closets that are kind of bouncy? That's weird. Because this is a room that goes up and down and leads to other rooms. That's maybe the least interesting thing you'll learn while you're here. Normal throws up again. No more stairs. I'm sorry.
Starting point is 01:05:13 I should have predicted you wouldn't be ready for that. I forgot about the elevator thing. I forgot nobody knows about elevators in this world anymore. That's what we call it. Up, down room. Nobody knows about up, down rooms anymore. So basically on the ground floor, it was all carpeted and corporate and there were like pictures of like flowers
Starting point is 01:05:27 and playing like future Phil Collins music. And as you went- Future Phil Collins. I feel like the moment the elevator started, we'd be all like, what the fuck is going on? What the fuck's going on? She goes, I'm sorry, this room moves.
Starting point is 01:05:41 Why would it move, lady? That doesn't make any sense. It moves up. You know like stairs? You know how stairs work? Yeah. What if you didn't have to take every individual step? I know, but what if you moved instead of the stairs? Wait, no, yeah, the stairs don't move. So the stairs
Starting point is 01:05:52 move instead of you. You know, like stairs, it's like you're moving, right? But this, it's like I'm subject to the whims of the up-down room. A room that reflects my moods. Up, down, and sometimes just staying still. Wow, you got a handle on this very quickly. But yeah, that's what this is.
Starting point is 01:06:08 She takes you out of there. And as you enter the new floor, the walls are suddenly very austere and white. Like your mom. My dad. My mom is short and brown. Lincoln has pulled out a penny and he's like really looking straight down that little gap between the elevator and the floor. And he's like staring at us like, how far down does this go? And he drops a penny down there.
Starting point is 01:06:34 They have cash in the future? They do not. They drop a paperclip. He drops his cash app card. I dropped my cash app down there. I dropped my cash app down there. So for... I dropped my cash app down there. So you stand there waiting to hear the plink as it hits the bottom
Starting point is 01:06:47 of the elevator and you keep waiting for about 30, 45 seconds. And she's like, we need to start walking. So it's just a carpet down there. And as you leave
Starting point is 01:06:56 the elevator, you hear, ding. Oh my God. It's a very long way down. Every time you take a step, you can feel it echo throughout this hallway
Starting point is 01:07:01 that's like very blank hallway. And she goes, this is the department for the acquisition, destruction, deployment, and investigation of extra normal stuff. Daddy's for short.
Starting point is 01:07:10 And she starts. That's what the acronym was on the front of the building. Yeah. This is that, this is that building. It's the same building. This is, this is us,
Starting point is 01:07:18 but we weren't in the same building. We walked in that room. The up down room takes you from a room. I get what you're saying. I get what you're saying. That is weird. Rooms are stacked on top of one. It's just stairs. So again, the up-down room takes you from a room and then moves down or up to a different room. Rooms are stacked on top of one another. It's just stairs. So you're saying we're below the building that we were in before.
Starting point is 01:07:32 Yes, correct. With the same name as what you said. So are we in China now? No, it's the same building. It's not that far down. Why is it everything upside down? You know what? Just imagine it.
Starting point is 01:07:40 It's not the up-down room. It's the stairs room. And he grabs the lady and shakes her and he goes like, then why didn't we take the stairs? Are there stairs? There are stairs. Can we just verify that we're in the same room? I'm going to freak out. I'd like to verify that we're in the same building.
Starting point is 01:07:53 Fine. Follow me. And she takes you the opposite direction to the direction she was going. She goes, okay, we're following the fire exit signs. And she goes, stairs. All right, cool. Watch me. And then she opens up the door and then walks up the stairs.
Starting point is 01:08:03 It goes, follow me. Come on. Yeah. And leads you up back to the room you were initially in and she goes okay we just do this the first time because so much easier i'm not going in that room again we'll do it again i'll show you how much easier it is i'm going down the stairs lady okay well i'll meet you down there and i'll show you it's safe i don't care yeah yeah yeah do that okay so she goes and she goes to the elevator she's gone the moment she's gone this is our chance to get deeper into this place
Starting point is 01:08:31 so there's 69 buttons in the elevator and there's 69 flights of stairs i thought she's taking yes so she's taking the elevator so you see a fire escape sign on the wall that mentions there are 69 flights of stairs here going downward. So we're already at the top. So you're at the top. We got to go to the 69th floor and get that cash app back.
Starting point is 01:08:58 So based on the number of stairs that we just walked up, how many floors down was the floor we were originally on? You're on floor 3B, as in like basement, underground floor. 3B. I mean, I walk down, I go down the stairs. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They can't stop us,
Starting point is 01:09:12 guys. We can check out all the other rooms. What did Scary do? Scary stayed in the elevator. She thought it was really cool. Okay, well, you guys go down to floor 3. And when the doors open, you don't see Taylor. Yeah, I was going to say, the door's open and she stands outside and she goes, and now we have to wait for your friends to come out of the stairwell. They are not coming out of the stairwell.
Starting point is 01:09:29 You can hear it echoing from the door, and you're about to say, let's keep going. I was just trying to run back to her. I just refused to use the elevator. That's all. Oh, so you exited on the floor. Yeah, I exited on her floor. Okay. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:09:39 And she goes, okay, you wait there. And she runs down. Don't ever put me in that thing again. It's like an airplane, but in a building. Hate it. We'll wait here. We're fine. We'll wait here.
Starting point is 01:09:49 Can you please? Yes, please do. Taylor, you run down the stairs, and you hear huff, huff, huff, huff. Two men in suits coming up. And I'm going to bust down the door, whatever that floor is. Okay, so you'll be on the floor. Somewhere between floor three and floor 20, right? Floor 20.
Starting point is 01:10:02 Floor 20. So, yeah, let's say you made it down five flights of stairs while they made it up. Yeah, go ahead. 11? Okay, so you're on floor 11 when you see two men in suits
Starting point is 01:10:13 rushing up from the stairwell. I guess this will be as good as any. I really hope that Freddy dies this time. I hate you. So you kick open the door and before you, you see a room that is so big that you have trouble conceiving of it for a second.
Starting point is 01:10:27 It seems so large and so cavernous. And as you look up, you see a spiraling trail that leads down the cave wall. Almost like a drill bit kind of thing. Like the Ruminant Kanto. Yes. Actually, yeah. Yes, like that. Just like the Ruminant Kanto.
Starting point is 01:10:41 Multiverse. And it goes along the edge of this cave. Every so often along this wall, you see a door that is locked from somewhere. And you just came out of one of these doors. And to your left and your right are doors that have, one has a golden lock on it, one has a silver lock. And the trail continues down deeper and deeper and deeper.
Starting point is 01:10:57 And you can't see the bottom. It just gets dark before you can fully reach the bottom. We cut back to for just like this blank hallway with teenagers just hanging out. Normal has drawn what he thinks is the layout of how an elevator works on the wall. And it's like, I think it goes like that. And it's completely wrong.
Starting point is 01:11:14 It's like a car going upstairs. It's like a room shaped car going upstairs. I think that's an elevator. When you said that like an airplane is like an elevator is like an airplane, a building inside. Like airplanes are like kind of buildings, aren't they? Yeah, an airplane is really just a building with wings, Link. Yeah, well, I don't. Okay, why are you coming at me?
Starting point is 01:11:38 Cut back to Taylor Swift. So you see all this. You see these doors. There's one next to you that has four jeweled locks on it that draws your attention. And you feel deep in your heart, something powerful is in here that I can use. I pull out my ninja rocks and I throw it at the jewels on the door. Okay. It doesn't do anything.
Starting point is 01:11:56 Shit. There goes one of my ninja rocks. But to your right, that's to your left. Pick it up. I pick up my, just pick it back up. That's fine. To your right is a door with a copper lock on it. You almost feel like this whisper of like, hey, hey man, there's something good in here
Starting point is 01:12:09 for you. Come on, just pick the lock. I'm going to look at it and then forgetting that I'm being chased, I'm going to try and like kind of tug on the lock and see if I can shim the lock using any number of improvised tools in my go bag. Okay. Give me a sleight of hand roll. 13.
Starting point is 01:12:21 So with a 13, you try to lock pick this door. Okay, give me a sleight of hand roll. 13. So with a 13, you try to lockpick this door. You shim it, and the lock pops open. But then you feel something from within the lock react poorly to your attempts to open it. Okay, I'm scared now because Anthony has reached next to him. What?
Starting point is 01:12:38 And he has a bunch of index cards. This is such a power move because he was all like, oh, no, I didn't even plan for you to go in this room. Oh, no. And he's got fucking stuff for it? Jeez Louise. So just to paint the picture, folks, Anthony has three stacks of colored index cards. I'm drawing one now from the pink stack. Curse.
Starting point is 01:12:53 Voice over narration. You think out loud for the entirety of the next adventure. Oh, no. So as you open this door, though, you also inside what seems to be a small green humanoid person who in one hand is beckoning you forward. And in the other hand is holding what looks like a phone. And what the fuck? He goes, hey, come here.
Starting point is 01:13:18 Come here. Help me out. I'll give you this. Come here. Come here. What kind of phone? It looks like an iPhone 20. That's 10 iPhones ago.
Starting point is 01:13:24 Yeah. No, it's kind of old for your like an iphone 20 that's 10 iphones ago yeah no it's kind of old for your it pretty much looks just like the iphone slightly there's 12 camera lenses on the back i'm like whoa it's like a mini piccolo from dragon ball z uh sure yeah whatever man whatever come on come here yeah help me out of here i can't just grab me by the hand and then walk me out of here come on what's your deal piccolo uh they put me in prison for bullshit reasons because you know piccolo is like a small flute. You're already...
Starting point is 01:13:48 Myself. This is my voiceover narration. This is my head. This is what you're hearing. That's what you're saying. I was saying it's funny because Piccolo is already a small flute. Just get me out of here. Just take my hand and lead me out of this room.
Starting point is 01:13:58 That's all I need. I don't know. What's in it for me? This. This is the four seconds of fame. It's an item that allows you to record four seconds of audio or video. Those four seconds will then immediately show up on the social media feeds of every human being on planet Earth. Oh my God.
Starting point is 01:14:12 What? And I know this? That's what he tells you. I grab his hand so fucking hard, bro. Okay. So you lead him out of the jail cell. And he goes, yippee, I'm free. And he hands you the four seconds of fame.
Starting point is 01:14:22 So now I'm giving you this card. I've gotten a yellow card here. And as he says that, the woman who you met and then the two armed men bursting through the door behind you. And they go, no, no. And he goes, yes, yes. And he snaps his fingers and he vanishes entirely. And they go, oh, no. As they're doing that, I quietly hide the phone from them.
Starting point is 01:14:44 Just take a video of this cave and put it online. And I turn it on. I turn it around. And I record myself selfie mode in this room. And I go, what up, Taylor Stans? If I disappear. Are you counting? Yeah, you need four seconds.
Starting point is 01:14:59 What's up, Taylor Stans? It's your boy, Taylor Swift, here. They've gotten me in some government. Okay. So immediately... Push notification. You get a push notification. It's got a full thumbnail and everything.
Starting point is 01:15:12 It's me, like, with my hands. Well, you can do audio or video. So I'm assuming you did... Video, video. Oh, so you did video. Oh! No, audio. You're right.
Starting point is 01:15:19 You don't see... You hear nothing. You just see his face against a wall. It's on my YouTube channel, which all of a sudden has a bunch of people watching it. Yeah, all of a sudden you get 8 billion views. But no audio. Wow.
Starting point is 01:15:30 Wait, does this break? Because at the bottom it says break roll 15 charisma. So the way that these magic items work that I've made is that you can use them as much as you want, but after you use them, they have the chance to break. So because that's a charisma item, you're going to roll a d20 and add your charisma modifier. If you don't get higher than its break number, which in this case is 15, it breaks forever.
Starting point is 01:15:49 And you have to rip up the card. It's a 12, so that's done. So goodbye to that cool card. I'm tearing it up. All right. So the woman takes you all into her office and she sits you down. In four seats that she is assembled. Well, three seats that she's assembled and then she brings another one in for Taylor.
Starting point is 01:16:06 Taylor's already in one of the seats. He's in the center most facing and he's already kicked back. The main character seat? Yeah, the main character seat. Okay. Well, she- Lincoln just stands in the corner. Okay, that's fine.
Starting point is 01:16:17 It's time to talk to you about the reason that you're here. We're at war with an enemy who has already won. Oh, well, then what's the point? What are we doing here? Let me keep going. I didn't come here just to say one sentiment. Let me- I have a thing already won. Oh, well, then what's the point? What are we doing here? Let me keep going. I didn't come here just to say one sentence. Let me, I have a thing. Oh.
Starting point is 01:16:29 There's something. You know what? I've got a whole, this will explain, but you know what? I'm not going to bother. This will explain it. And she takes out a video cart with a TV on it, like the kind in school that meant
Starting point is 01:16:36 you were going to watch Magic School Bus instead of do work. We're going to watch Magic School Bus? You're not going to watch Magic School Bus. And she presses play on it. That show got dark after the red shift happened. Oh, man, yeah. The new seasons dark after the red shift happened and you know. Oh man yeah. The new seasons are weird. I still get nightmares
Starting point is 01:16:48 bro. The one where she goes inside the kids repressed trauma that was a dark one. That was awful. Oh god. People said it was like the best episode of the show. And the swimming pool like freaked out and that dog died. Can I press play on the DVD player? Yeah. Okay.
Starting point is 01:17:03 So she presses play on a DVD player. An old pistachioed man with white hair appears on screen. None of you recognize him. Is he hot? Yeah, is he hot? No. He was not hot when he was young, and he's not one of those that breaks late. Whatever.
Starting point is 01:17:23 Hi, my name is Ron Stampler. Welcome to Daddies, the department for the acquisition, destruction, deployment, and investigation of extra-normal stuff. A Ron Stampler business enterprise. If you're watching this, then we failed. If you're watching this, then we failed. The doodler is still loose in our reality, and we're too old or too dead to continue to fight against it and its, uh, homies, its accolades, if you will.
Starting point is 01:17:58 Ahem. This video is to remind you that you're not crazy. The world really is broken, but it can be fixed. Now, that said, please don't involve our sons, especially my son, Terry Jr. I mean, I guess I care about the other sons, too. They'll want to join Daddy's, but keep them out. They shouldn't be responsible for our mess here. The video feed cuts and is suddenly replaced with the image of
Starting point is 01:18:27 Normal's uncle, Lark Oak. Is someone right over this DVD? Uh-huh. Okay. He says, If you're watching this, then we failed too. We're dead or missing and the doodler's still loose. I wish I had a great plan for you. A hundred contingencies, but I've only got three things to tell you. Firstly, if all is lost,
Starting point is 01:18:43 implement Code Purple. It worked once before, maybe it can work again. You just may not like what you find. Secondly, stay away from the obsidian door. Thirdly, no matter what happens, do not involve our children. Normal, Link, Taylor, they shouldn't be responsible for our mess. And the video cuts out.
Starting point is 01:19:00 Okay, so now that that's done, what the fuck is going on? You're the bosses now. All of you are the joint chiefs of daddies. So this is your office now. Congratulations. You're my boss now. Tell me what to do. What do we do?
Starting point is 01:19:11 What do you mean? Okay, first things first, lady. What the heck? Like the video said, this is the Department for the Acquisition, Destruction, Deployment, and Investigation of Extra Normal Stuff, or daddies. And your dads ran it. They were the chief agents. My dad didn't run a super you got me
Starting point is 01:19:26 confused with another normal oak my dad ran a shitty vegan ice cream store this is it this is crazy you saw him in the video well your uncle but your dad and your uncle work together my dad's a librarian and an author he wrote one book and he's a librarian your dad is a sniper i've seen your dad kill monsters no he's a good striker on fifa he's what librarian. Your dad is a sniper. I've seen your dad kill monsters with a gun. No, he's a good striker on FIFA. What are you talking about? Well, my stepdad is like a total moron and like an idiot and then embarrassing. Embarrassing maybe.
Starting point is 01:19:56 The other two not so much. I mean, your dad's, I mean, not you, she says, pointing at Taylor. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know who my dad is. She grimaces. But she goes, no, your, your dad's and in one case, uncle wanted to protect you from the knowledge of what's going on. Like you don't remember this, but I do. Cause I'm in my thirties. Oh God, I feel old.
Starting point is 01:20:14 But like when I was like five, all the sky changed from blue to red, everything went fucking weird. And that's because your dad's like accidentally unleashed this weird chaos creature, this God called the doodler. Our dads turned the sky red? Indirectly, kind of. Yeah. Everybody thought that the world was ending for a while and everything seemed insane. But after a while, it seemed like, oh, actually, all that really changed was that the sky was turned to this weird color, except people didn't know.
Starting point is 01:20:39 People like me, she says, pointing at herself manically. I was on the internet all the time and I saw there were way more cryptid sightings. There were way more missing persons. The conspiracy theories were going nuts and I knew something was going on. And that's why your dads hired me to work for them because I'm a fucking go-getter and I saw beyond the veil. I saw that something's fucking weird now. They recruited me from 8chan. They were protecting this town from incursions by acolytes of the doodler.
Starting point is 01:21:01 Like every so often there will be an incursion and something will happen and the doodlers, like acolytes or people who are obsessed with the doodler or of the doodler. Like every so often there'll be an incursion and something will happen. And the doodlers like acolytes or people who are obsessed with the doodle or maybe the doodle. I don't really know, but something weird will show up and start fucking up people and trying to eat them or destroy them or whatever the hell. And they were the ones who stopped them. And if you don't stop them, then they're going to take over the town and eventually the world. So they were basically keeping the world all together. But they're gone now. But you're the best thing I have.
Starting point is 01:21:23 So now you have to do their job. I'm sorry. I raise my hand. Yesincoln uh here's a problem i i'm having maybe you can help me one you're an adult so that means i should probably trust you and you're probably smarter than me so that's good but but two you're saying that in order for this to be true my dad would have to lie and my dad has never lied to me his entire life so you see the predicament like that's not possible totally yeah like no hey i get it man like yeah what did your dad tell you about santa oh the first memory i have of santa claus is he sat me down and he explained to me that santa is not physically real but could be real and then it was kind of up to my choice to decide whether or not
Starting point is 01:22:00 like i want to believe it and they'd support my decision either way well shit that i didn't really care you haven't told us i mean so where's our i need to say my dad where's where's also don't know where your dad is wait is my dad part of this the video mentioned me that's true the video did say something about taylor oh yeah it did and you're taylor yeah and you don't have a dad well i mean obviously i have a cool dad i just don't know where he is oh i don't know i mean maybe by, I mean, obviously I have a cool dad. I just don't know where he is. Oh, I don't know. I mean, maybe by researching the stuff going on with the doodler and all that stuff,
Starting point is 01:22:30 you'll find your dad. I don't know. I got hired relatively recently. So you're saying we gotta do a bunch of work and then maybe we'll be the ones to save the world? I'm saying saving the world is the work. She says, first, you're gonna need these. And she hands each of you a badge with your name
Starting point is 01:22:42 and a picture of you on it. And she says, at any time, those badges you have around your neck, they vibrate and that'll let you know that there's been an incursion and that you have to basically drop everything and stop it because if the doodler gets enough of a presence in this world or does enough fucked up shit then a lot of people die i mean we're just kids so how about we just don't do it how about we go to the cops to find our dads and there's gotta be like grown-ups that do this stuff right there were they were your dad that was it there was just our four dads your dad's had the power bunker have your dad's ever
Starting point is 01:23:09 told you anything about daddy magic no my dad is totally lame i just can't wrap my mind around the fact that the dude who is like weeping at like top six steph curry plays like he was like this really old nba player but he was able to play into his 80s because of some sort of. Fuck me. Anyways. And then he made all that money from that golf show. He's a miniature golf guy, right? Yeah, he may.
Starting point is 01:23:35 He plays miniature golf and then curling and cornhole. So like he was a big member of the National Cornhole Federation. Anyways. Yeah. member of the National Cornhole Federation. Anyways. So you're telling me that same guy, Terry, is also in
Starting point is 01:23:50 all this metal monster stuff? Yes. Don't threaten me with respecting my stepdad, okay? Okay, fine. Our dads are adults, but there's other adults. Why don't we just go, like, Sheriff Johnson. He's an adult. He's better than we are. You know the name of this sheriff? Yeah, he's a really nice guy what do you mean you guys don't do any
Starting point is 01:24:08 town of like 50 000 people i mean good for you being involved in local politics i guess i don't know the name of our state senator if you know the name of the sheriff it's because he's definitely done something illegal saturday saturday is when we go clean up the park and the rivers the reason you clean up the narc narc okay rivers. You guys don't do that? Did you say clean up the narc narc? Okay, whatever, Scary. My point is there's other adults that could do this. It's not about adults or not adults. It's about do they have the daddy magic. So your parents, if they didn't teach you about the doodly,
Starting point is 01:24:32 they didn't teach you about daddy magic, but there's some magical energy that they have that's powered by, I don't know, love or affection for your kid or your dad or whatever the fuck, and that'll allow them to... Ugh, boring. I don't like it either. I don't care.
Starting point is 01:24:42 That's so sweet. My dad's probably the most powerful dad. Oh, God, shut up. Hey. They could tell when an incursion happened, and they could tell where it was. Like, there was no technology other than just what was in their souls or hearts, I guess. And, like, because you're their kids and because they all love you, and I guess also you, Taylor. I don't know.
Starting point is 01:24:59 Maybe your dad loves you somewhere, wherever he is. But, like, maybe you'll know, too, when an incursion happened. Well, Ms. Hales, I saw spooky vision. I'm pretty sure my dad's in trouble it sounds like this is related to that so just point me where i gotta go and we'll do it we've got spirit yes we do as i like to say so like what do we do well this lady doesn't know anything so like no be quiet you gotta get it together why are we even listening to you my dad dad lied. That's like the only thing. Link. Taylor slaps Link.
Starting point is 01:25:27 Ow. If this is the only way I'll meet my dad, then dang it, I'll do it. I don't know where you're getting that. This might not relate to your dad at all. I don't think this has anything to do with your dad. I really don't. But look, Link, it's crazy. There's a lot of stuff going on.
Starting point is 01:25:41 I'm ready. I'm ready. Put me in, coach. Link, Link, listen to me, man. Okay. Let me try to fucking put me in coach link link listen to me man okay let me try to fucking put this in soccer terms or something right so it's like either you can like sit on the sidelines and cry about it you can step up for your team and your dad and get into some really dark angsty shit like the rest of us yeah no i want i'm gonna go on the field i just i might just be crying while i'm on the field.
Starting point is 01:26:06 Okay, that's fine. You can cry. Just, okay. Okay, so first thing we need to do probably is go to the pay window. Follow me. So the room you enter is pretty much entirely empty, except for the fact that there's a very large puddle on the other end of the room. And for some reason, that's where your eyes go to first.
Starting point is 01:26:24 Then as you raise your eyes to see what caused that puddle, you see a large wall that seems to be made entirely of raw meat that has a large hole in the middle that you with horror realize is a mouth and that there's saliva dripping from that mouth over sharp teeth with chapped lips and a big old tongue comes out and licks the floor and licks its lips and stuff and it goes, Oh my God, it's face from Nick Jr. Oh no. Yeah, Nick Jr. the rat turned into that.
Starting point is 01:26:46 Oh my god! What? Yeah, that's right. Nick Jr. the rat. His face alone survived and it turned into that wall. Oh god! New meat, new meat. You will need this. Four pieces of paper come out and
Starting point is 01:27:01 Agent Hales says, so we're at war. This is daddy's. And for some reason, in order to actually get any equipment, we have to buy it from the vending machine downstairs. And it only accepts these dollars. I don't know. I don't know.
Starting point is 01:27:12 I started working here like two years ago. I don't know. I'm still getting the hang of it. Two years is a long time to get in. It's a long time. Do you have any idea how much the average high schooler has to learn in two years, lady?
Starting point is 01:27:21 Like, that, following on deaf ears, frankly. I know about i was an assistant that i learned a lot about like the work that they don't do and i learned how to like get away with doing as little work as possible but i don't understand why things work yeah it was me and just those four guys and they would leave and i would just stay here and like play whatever the future of the candy crush is on my phone i know maybe you could have been learning during that time oh fuck off you're my least favorite one yeah so anyway these
Starting point is 01:27:45 are daddy warbucks you need to hold on to these i've made physical versions of these that i'm going to give you now so we gotta keep track of stuff yes you can now keep track you the players in real life will keep track of the stuff you have now we're gonna go downstairs i'm gonna take you to the vending machine where there's like stuff that you can use for your i guess missions okay follow me agent hails takes you downstairs to a massive warehouse-like space. It is brightly lit, but from lights you can't see, it's like somebody turned on the Fulbright in a level designer. That's for nobody. That's for people who make videos.
Starting point is 01:28:12 It's like a big light box. It's like somehow the walls are just light. Could you describe the level of anti-aliasing going on? Is there Z-buffering happening? The bow is turned all the way up. Is there fong shading? There's this very big, very brightly lit, empty warehouse. And in the middle of it is just a normal-sized snack vending machine.
Starting point is 01:28:30 Oh, my God. Hey, normal. That vending machine is exactly your size. Fuck you. Cut that out. No, that's good. That's going in. No.
Starting point is 01:28:38 As you approach the vending machine, you actually see that, like, oh, it's not really normal size. It's just kind of, like, far away. And it's actually quite big. And looking at the vending machine. Anthony, the way you pay attention. That's how prospective I am right now. I know I'm explaining very basic human experiences to you. Just kidding.
Starting point is 01:28:52 That one is way too big. There are a bunch of things that you can buy from this. There are brass, silver, and gold keys. There's also jeweled keys that seem to be pretty expensive. There are healing potions. There are weapons and armor. And there is a lock pick on the very bottom that seems to cost a lot. They all healing potions, there are weapons and armor, and there is a lockpick on the very bottom that seems to cost a lot.
Starting point is 01:29:06 They all have different daddy warbuck amounts they take that I have put into our Discord. My God. Okay, which one of these help us find our dads? Yeah, is there like a dad detector in here? What is this? So these keys, there's a dungeon beneath us full of both monsters that your dads have captured
Starting point is 01:29:21 and also potentially useful items that they've captured, sometimes both in the same room. And those keys will open doors that lead to those things. That's where I was. Yes, that's exactly what you did, actually. You picked a lock instead of using a key, but if you want to get into one of those rooms without getting a curse, you use a key.
Starting point is 01:29:36 And as she says that, your badges all vibrate and come alive on your chest. You feel within you a surge of, presumably, what this woman referred to as daddy magic. You feel power well feel within you a surge of presumably what this woman referred to as daddy magic you feel power well up within you and fill your entire body and each of you in this moment become the dungeons of dragons character archetypes that you built into your sheets oh hey wow you can feel yourself gain spells are you saying we have a mighty morphin power rangers ass moment right now yes i would i wild. Yes. I would say Sailor Moon, but yeah.
Starting point is 01:30:06 From our ID cards? Yes, basically coming from your ID cards. Like, you don't actually, like, turn into, like, a guy with armor and shit, but you can feel yourself get whatever- I turn into a teenager who thinks he's a cleric. Yeah, pretty much. Like, you can now, you know, use those spells that you have on your character sheets and stuff.
Starting point is 01:30:21 Oh, what is everybody? What are you, Scary? I'm a warlock. Oh. Ooh. character sheets and stuff. What is everybody? What are you, Scary? I'm a warlock. Oh. So yeah, Scary, you feel the dark magic of a patron god that gives you
Starting point is 01:30:29 your dark powers and you feel that awaken within you and you become Scary the warlock. Ooh, our ID card's like reflective,
Starting point is 01:30:36 like as it hits the light it literally says warlock. That's like their code names for each other. Oh, warlock? Yeah, that's kind of cool. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:30:42 Oh, it looks like your call sign. I'm a paladin? That's pretty cool. Yeah, so you feel a, that's kind of cool. Yeah. Whoa, it looks like your call sign. I'm a paladin? That's pretty cool. Yeah, so you feel a good and just light welling up within you, Link, that fills you with the desire
Starting point is 01:30:51 to protect and heal and help people. And that is the spirit of a paladin. Maybe you guys can call me pal, like short for paladin. Like, what's up, pal? I'm not doing that.
Starting point is 01:30:58 Hey, pal. I'll call you pal. Normal looks down at his badge and sees the word cleric on there. We blast into Normal's POV and a light pierces through the clouds of his soul and fills him with beautiful light. And it's the spirit and it's the school spirit. And that's the spirit that he worships that brings his mighty powers forth. And then Taylor looks down at his badge and he's like, oh, man, mine says Park Ranger.
Starting point is 01:31:22 Oh, Ranger. Where did he get the park from? Oh, it was a smudge. There was some gravy. So you feel within your soul the power of... Aragorn. Yeah, Aragorn-ass bullshit. You feel being cool,
Starting point is 01:31:36 and the guy who's in the corner of the tavern in dark, and you fucking have a hood over your head, like that whole fucking vibe, that shit, that's you. Kicking things, breaking toes. You know how it goes. You feel a ranger within you. And also, after that wave of magic and dopamine has passed, you feel peril.
Starting point is 01:31:51 You sense it in the air. You feel that at the San Dimas Elementary School, something is awry. You have an image of a child. Thank you, Fred. I was just trying to give a little bit. You see an image of a child. You see... Thank you, Freddy. I was just trying to give a little bit. You see an image of a child. I look at Taylor.
Starting point is 01:32:10 Was this like the vision you guys had? No, we didn't really... I didn't make a dumb sound like that when I had my vision. It was a dumb sound. It sounds cool. This is the vision you do have. So you sense the elementary school
Starting point is 01:32:21 and then you see a child who's wearing a shirt that has like something kids like on it, on the shirt. And he's... Paw Patrol. It's like I'm there. Like Paw Patrol. The Paw Patrol reboot.
Starting point is 01:32:33 The gritty Paw Patrol reboot. Paw Patrol Port of Call, New Orleans. Yeah, there you go. Vending machines that are bigger than they first seem and kids in shirts. Didn't you used to listen to that podcast? Dungeons daddies. Yeah. The world building really took a nose dive.
Starting point is 01:32:49 It was just too immersive. I felt like I couldn't extricate myself from the tapestry that they wove with their words. So kid wearing a Paw Patrol, a port called new Orleans shirt is crawling out. See, it's funny now that we've all done it. It's crawling out of a building and he looks up and you could see on his face that all these wrinkles, like he's really, done it. It's crawling out of a building, and he looks up, and you can see on his face that all these wrinkles, like he's really, really old.
Starting point is 01:33:08 He has the body of a child, but he looks like he's 80. Like the kid from the movie. He's just like the kid from Akira. Like the kid from Akira. And then that dissipates, and Agent Hales goes, what did you see? Did you see if it didn't work? It was like a kid, like a kindergartner,
Starting point is 01:33:23 but was really old and looked sick and dying. Oh, okay, that's good. That's weird. It's't work. It's also Akira-ass shit. It was like a kid, like a kindergartner, but like was really old and looked like sick and like dying. Ah, oh, okay. That's good. That's weird. That's bad. I mean, it's bad. It's not good.
Starting point is 01:33:29 It's bad. It's bad. But it means that your ability to use daddy magic to locate weird doodler shit is working. So yeah, that's a, that's an incursion. We have to like go solve that. All I know is that the kids of San Dimas Elementary are the future kids of San Dimas High School, which means they're as connected to the glory of our school as we are. So for future generations, for our school to prosper and also to, I guess,
Starting point is 01:33:51 help get our dads back, we better get over there and see what's going on. So this is what my dad did all the time? Yeah, not all the time, all the time. He would go home and stuff. Oh, man. If you're going to go out in the field, you might need some stuff. I don't know. The only thing I need is this right here i said that uh grant was an author so he wrote one book as a librarian and it's uh it's how to be a good teenage boy are you fucking kidding me yeah there appears to be a real book here the only thing i need is is this and let me just i know my dad wrote something
Starting point is 01:34:18 about being brave and it seems like we gotta be brave right now what does it say about bravery let's get pumped up here it says oh uh it says you don't always have to be brave it's okay to ask for help your dad sounds like a total pussy um okay well may really quick so while we're doing this first order of business as your boss like help like search stuff about our dads while we go do this. And so hopefully when we come back, you got some more information. Okay, I can do that. That's a great idea.
Starting point is 01:34:50 Yeah, can you do that? Don't just sit around and Google mangas that haven't been translated yet all day. Yeah, stop playing Candy Crush. And play games on your phone. That's the first order of business as the boss. I mean, you can't stop me from playing games on my phone. As your guys' boss, don't ever fucking talk to a woman that way. I'm gonna, I mean, you can't stop me from playing games on the phone. As your guys' boss, don't ever fucking
Starting point is 01:35:06 talk to a woman that way. I'm sorry, Scary. In May, you better fucking get to work. Oh, ladies lifting ladies.
Starting point is 01:35:16 No, actually, yeah, Scary, I'm okay with you. Actually, I feel a little bit more comfortable
Starting point is 01:35:19 if you're the, I don't want to be the boss. Are you guys cool with that? I don't want to be the boss. I'm the boss. I'm not. You find my dad. Taylor's not the boss. Taylor's not the boss. I think it's fine. to be the boss. Are you guys cool with that? I don't want to be the boss either. I'm the boss. If you find my dad.
Starting point is 01:35:25 No, Taylor's not the boss. Taylor's not the boss. I think it's fine. You're all the boss. Nobody gets to not be the boss. All four of you are the boss. So I slap the four daddy warbucks against the vending machine
Starting point is 01:35:34 and I say, give me the rowdiest, raddest bunch of keys this money will buy. Okay. Also, are there any like good snacks in this bad boy? Like, are there like...
Starting point is 01:35:42 Yes, there is one Snickers bar. How much is that? That one is six Daddy Warbucks. Wow. Six Daddy Warbucks. Holy shit. So you put your four Daddy Warbucks against the vending machine, and rather than accepting them through the dollar slot,
Starting point is 01:35:54 it just absorbs all four of them and spits out two brass keys. We can use these in the dungeon. Hey, team of teens, hands in the middle. Are you guys ready to do this? Yeah, yeah. Let's go. Let me just say real quick, thanks, everybody, for gathering here middle. Are you guys ready to do this? Yeah, yeah. Let's go. Let me just say real quick. Thanks, everybody, for gathering here.
Starting point is 01:36:07 OK, we got to go. Lincoln starts running down the thing. Are you going to take the elevator or the stairs? Stairs. I'm not going on that thing. OK, so then as you go down the stairs, the floor directly beneath this one, you feel an incredible intelligence on the other side of that door that is. Oh, I'm smart now.
Starting point is 01:36:23 No, you don't. You don't become intelligent. You feel you sense an intelligence on the other side of that door that is... Oh, I'm smart now. You don't become intelligent. You feel. You sense an intelligence on the other side of that door. Why am I on the other side of the door? You're not on the other side. The intelligence is on the other side. You're on this side. Clearly, you don't have the intelligence. There's a sign on the door
Starting point is 01:36:38 next to the door that says whale. There's a sign that says dungeon that has an arrow pointing down. So if you want to go to the dungeon, you keep going down, but there's also a hyper-intelligent whale behind this door. Daryl. I mean, Lincoln. I'm just cracking up with just a handwritten sign.
Starting point is 01:36:56 It's not handwritten. It's official looking. That's even funnier for some reason. They're like, all right, we got to get this sign printed. We got to get a nice sign printed that says whale. I'm stuck between like, you gave me like the fire hose, you're like, run to the fire that adds up right to the fire. You're like, by the way, there's a door that says whale on it.
Starting point is 01:37:12 I'm just saying, you said, I'm setting up the space. I'm being consistent about the way the space is built up, and I'm telling you that there's a psychic hyper-intelligent whale by this door. You have to talk to him. You should fucking know he's there. It's Alan Rickman in Die Hard
Starting point is 01:37:26 looking at like the list of names. He's like, it's Bill Whale. I shouldn't go talk to him, but like it's also you explain that it's there. Do you want to do
Starting point is 01:37:37 something with the whale? No, no. Okay. Let's move on. So you open the door to the dungeon from Dungeons and Daddies. You told us there's no way to move on. So you open the door to the dungeon from Dungeons and Daddies. You gave me bad ass.
Starting point is 01:37:45 You told us there was a whale. I'm trying to move forward. I'm trying to add momentum to this expository fire hose of information. You're the one who was like, stop the adventure to look at a whale. I didn't say look at it. I said it was there. You described it so alluringly. I would say it would be if I came back after the mission was done.
Starting point is 01:38:01 I would go, oh, by the way, there's a whale there you didn't notice. That would be obscene. It's a big building. I could have just taken a path not next to the whale. No, there went, oh, by the way, there's a whale there you didn't notice? That would be obscene. It's a big building. I could have just taken a path not next to the whale. No, there's only one stairwell up or down. So what do you want to do? You want to spend the keys? You want to go rescue the kids?
Starting point is 01:38:12 What the fuck do you want to do? I say we use these keys and let's go save some kindergartners. We got two keys and some old kindergartners. I say we blow these keys into some fucking hot locks. Yeah, let's do it. The dust in your smell is very, very old. She goes, yeah, this is Reiten's dungeon where we keep all of our weird shit.
Starting point is 01:38:28 So yeah, go for it, kids. It's kind of like a storage space. Who wants to open the door? I'll do it. All right. So you are going to pick one of these cards and we'll see what's inside. And then I'll roll to see if there's a monster
Starting point is 01:38:40 inside that room as well. This one. I rolled a two on my monster table, which means that the starved to death corpse of a lizard man is in there. You're safe. Lizard men are real? I'm pretty unfazed by anything I'm seeing at this point.
Starting point is 01:38:56 So I'm just going to take this and stride. I will process this later. You guys want to just go in and get the thing and bring it out here? I take the lizard man corpse and I throw it off of there. Oh my God. I clear it out. All right the lizard man corpse. I throw it off of the like, Oh my God, I clear it out.
Starting point is 01:39:06 All right. Uh, yeah, you hear it clattered to the ground where it shatters. Um, and, uh, yeah.
Starting point is 01:39:12 So what item did you find inside this room? Dust my hands and I go, it's called die. Another day you roll a D 20 and find out how you die. You can't share the result with anyone. Lower roles are worse. Obviously, no matter what happens
Starting point is 01:39:26 the vision you see must come to pass period nothing you too can alter what you see what the fuck that's so horrible put that away okay let's just not use that that's great let's don't use it wait so you have to pick it up like how does it work like you have to choose to use it so what is this object like what does it look like is a magic D20 that when you touch it, you can feel that this is what it does. That if you choose to roll it, it will show you how you die and will lock that death into fate forever.
Starting point is 01:39:53 What the fuck? Holy shit. I hate that. This is the scariest thing I've ever seen. I very gently set it down. Do you want to just leave it there? You're like, you don't have to take it. This seems like not a good thing to have no it's
Starting point is 01:40:06 not but maybe we give it to somebody else or something like maybe it's worth something i mean yeah maybe we'll meet someone who wants to know how they're gonna die let's wrap it up in like bubble wrap or something go bag so do you want to use your other key yeah i hope we get something more useful yeah all right so yeah so just so you know the brass keys the ones that are cheapest tend to be things like this that are fucking wild and weird. Maybe you can find a clever way to use these, but they don't have an immediately obvious use. The things that require silver keys are tactical.
Starting point is 01:40:34 They are more useful, but they're not like direct violence. Well, we should have known that earlier. We just have to save some kindergartners, I guess. And then the gold key will get you things that are just straight up. They're called violent items. They will just do damage and hurt things and stuff. I like that. So you're going to open another brass door, and I'm going to roll to see if there's a monster inside.
Starting point is 01:40:51 Normal's going to open this one. Okay, normal. This one looks good over here. This door's giving me a good energy. I feel good about this one. 18. So inside, there is a living ancient gold dragon. Oh, cool.
Starting point is 01:41:04 There's a dragon in here. Wow. Oh my God. Massive, massive room. The chaperone dragon is the mascot over there. Guys, take a look at this. Lincoln runs back up. Oh, he looks nice.
Starting point is 01:41:15 Runs away. Is this a nice dragon? Roll perception. I got a natural 20. So with a natural 20, you can tell that all this dragon likes to do is protect treasure. It's friendly to anybody
Starting point is 01:41:30 who's not coming after its treasure and it can be easily swayed if you can give it something that it believes is more valuable than what it is protecting. Hey dragon, you want to know how you die? Do that. Roll persuasion.
Starting point is 01:41:44 13. All right, I'll roll, I don't know, wisdom saving throw against it. It also got a 13. Damn. Want double or nothing, dragon? How would I double or nothing knowing how I die? Lincoln, realizing this dragon's not dangerous,
Starting point is 01:41:58 slowly peeks his head around the corner. I just don't even know why we need to persuade you. We were all arguing about which one of us should take it because if you knew how you die that's pretty great because you would know let me ask you this do you know someone else who would want to maybe know that because this dice freaks me out plus think about how hilarious it would be if someone comes in here and tries to steal it from you and then they roll it and then they're gonna get got killed by an ancient dragon for stealing their treasure that's like a perfect ironic trap. I feel like that's convincing enough.
Starting point is 01:42:26 You don't have to roll again. You were right on the cusp. You tied. So that's good. So he goes, all right, give it over. And he takes the dice from you and he hands you.
Starting point is 01:42:34 Can we all watch and see if the dragon rolls it? What? Are you going to roll it? Do I want to roll it? Oh, no. Just give us that. I don't know what he's thinking.
Starting point is 01:42:41 He's going to roll a wisdom saving throw to see if it's something he wants to roll or not. So 10. Dad in the middle. I could go either way. Right in the middle. I could go either way.
Starting point is 01:42:51 I could maybe roll it. I could maybe not. Now it's going to be a 50-50. If it's evens, I'm going to roll it. If it's odds, I'm not going to roll it. I guess you don't have to decide right now. It's evens. I'm going to roll it.
Starting point is 01:42:58 Okay. All right. All right. Daddy's looking for old-age-ish beds surrounded by his loved ones. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Gold dragons have big beds? 16.
Starting point is 01:43:11 All right. So he sees something and he goes, nice. Damn. Pretty good. Okay, so can we have like whatever here? Yeah, so here.
Starting point is 01:43:20 Here you go. And he hands you. What does he hand you? I got the ring of invisibility but also blindness. A small glass ring that when worn grants the wearer complete invisibility at the cost of complete blindness. Both effects remain active as long as the ring is worn and become inactive upon removal.
Starting point is 01:43:37 Oh, that's clever. It's by Eli Goldwag. Thanks, Eli. Wow. Looks like we're all ready to go. But like, you know, we need a ride. Yeah, sure. You can take the company van, I guess.
Starting point is 01:43:47 Oh, none of us can drive. You can drive? Scary, can you drive? Like, legally? Yeah. I mean, of course. What other kind is there? Illegally?
Starting point is 01:43:56 Yes, I can drive. Okay. So, Link, you notice when you head out to the parking lot that your dad's van is here. And as Scary presses the key fob, it lights up. So the company car is essentially your dad's van. How did he get to the airport? Tell me it's a minivan. It's so safe.
Starting point is 01:44:13 What are you talking about? It's got lots of room and there's snacks in the back? Yeah, well, a ship in the harbor is safe, but that's not where ships get laid. What? Okay, well, are you going to drive it? Yeah. Don't dent it. Okay, no. Right you going to drive it? Yeah. Don't dent it. Okay, no righty-tighty.
Starting point is 01:44:27 Let's see here. All right. You guys like fucking metal, right? What type of van is it, Anthony? So yeah, you see your dad's Nissan Quest. You want it black? What color do you want it?
Starting point is 01:44:37 What color did your dad's Nissan Quest? What colors did the Nissan Quest come in? That's the real question. But this new one comes in. Yeah, what color did it come in in 2040 or wherever we are? No, but it got discontinued. This is a classic car.
Starting point is 01:44:47 This is a classic. This is like the dad in Ferris Bueller's Day Off with his Ferrari that he washes with a diaper. Grant's definitely bought this car from scratch. Who do you love? You love a van. A gross beige color is pretty good. Yeah. Like champagne.
Starting point is 01:45:00 It's like a champagne. Yeah. Your dad's champagne Nissan Quest. It's still got all the custom trim from 2016, including like a built-in PlayStation 3. Oh, sweet. We can play Killzone. Because yeah, this is a pre-self-driving car car as well. But also like out of character, like how much has Scary driven?
Starting point is 01:45:18 Probably not at all. At all? But I just rolled a 17. Yeah, boy. You get there with really no problem. Yeah. 17 is better than I drive on a 17 yeah boy you get there with really no problem yeah 17's better than I drive
Starting point is 01:45:28 on a daily basis and I'm an adult the car like lurches like into the there's like a tense moment where like a red light like a cop stops next to us
Starting point is 01:45:35 and like looks at us and we all look at him and the cop's like gives a little like shrug and then just like drives off like oh my god
Starting point is 01:45:41 that's so close guys dude we almost got arrested almost got arrested so you head to an elementary school you head to the elementary school the sandima's elementary school the exterior of the school seems to be pretty normal because it's saturday there are basically no cars in the parking lot but you can hear activity within so by normal it looks like a school at 6 p.m so it's like nobody's here yes but you hear a heavy breathing inside you hear beeping you hear a bit of moaning you hear the whirring of machinery and a rhythmic like stomping is there are there any windows we can look at
Starting point is 01:46:13 yeah there's like you know how like in schools they have those little like windows inset into the door in schools they have windows like it will use his incredibly tall head. What can you see in there? His tall body. I can see the top of it. From the angle you're at, you can see a very long line of kindergartners that is leading up to what looks like a opaque phone booth with a monitor attached to it. That have so many wires coming and going from it that it hurts your eyes to even look at them. On the other end of the room, you can see something running on a treadmill at a blistering speed. The something is vaguely humanoid, but the more that you look at it, the less that humanoidness becomes vague and more it becomes just like incorrect. At first, blush looks like a person, but the more you look at it, the less person-like it looks.
Starting point is 01:47:01 The veins on its neck are bulging. They're about to burst. Sweat drips down what you assume is her skin in waterfalls that splash the ground and with a hiss evaporate into the air. One of the veins in her forehead
Starting point is 01:47:12 pulses bigger and bigger until it bursts, the open vein flapping in the air like an untended garden hose. Her tongue lashes up and lassos the end of the vein guiding it into her mouth
Starting point is 01:47:20 where she sucks the fluid out of it, rehydrating herself as the vein slowly grows flaccid. What the fuck? She spits out the vein and the vein retreats back into her head where she sucks the fluid out of it rehydrating herself as the vein slowly grows flaccid what the fuck she spits out the vein and the vein retreats back into her head
Starting point is 01:47:28 sliding in the forehead like under her forehead skin like a blanket she breathes heavily horrible breaths so bassy that you can feel them in your chest
Starting point is 01:47:34 you realize now that's what that moaning was was her heavy horrible bassy breaths if I print out this description will you sign it for me she's also
Starting point is 01:47:43 her fingers are tapping at three different sets of keyboards that are mounted to her treadmill, and the wires are trailing from those keyboards to the phone booth. Ghostly white. He goes, there's just a teacher. He's watching TV in there. We should probably, we should just go. Alright, let's go
Starting point is 01:47:57 in. Alright, sounds good. Alright, yeah. There's just a teacher. I open the door. Oh god, no, everybody. Okay, do you all go in? Yeah, we just bust in. It's just a teacher. It's a safe adult. Okay. There's a teacher. There's nobody in there. Oh, God, no. Everybody. Okay, do you all go in? Yeah, we just bust in. There's a teacher. There's a safe adult. Okay. There's a monster.
Starting point is 01:48:08 As he opens the door, it's clear there's a monster. As you step in, two things happen. A, Lincoln says there's a monster. B, you see all the things I just mentioned to Lincoln. Oh!
Starting point is 01:48:17 And C, the doors slam shut behind you and are barred. There's a line of kindergartners leading towards this phone booth, and on the other end of the phone booth, there are a bunch of old people just sitting on the ground, just looking very tired and looking very sad. So the woman on the treadmill is looking at the monitor on the phone booth. And on the screen, you see an old woman who is huffing and puffing. She's running as fast as she can to what looks like a bank and cashes a check. And the teller goes,
Starting point is 01:48:44 hey, congratulations, madam. Your balance is now $1 check. And the teller goes, hey, congratulations, madam, your balance is now $1 million. And the old woman looks into the camera as if she's being filmed. She goes, time. The woman on the treadmill presses a large red button on the treadmill and a number appears on a large electronic board that folds out from behind her. And it says 68 years, two months, three days, 12 hours, 34 seconds. And the woman, the runner, looks at this and she goes, okay, so that means you are in seventh place. Subpar.
Starting point is 01:49:12 You will remain this age. And she presses a button on one of her keyboards and the phone booth spits out the old woman that you saw on the monitor. The old woman goes and sits down with a bunch of other old people that also look like kindergartners. And the runner, she goes, you're going to sit there until this entire marathon is over. Now, who else wants to speed run life to see who gets a million dollars quicker than anyone else? All our days whisked away, but is there something more to say? You know that no one knows us better than ourselves.
Starting point is 01:49:51 Used to tell myself it'll be alright, pretty lies that we sleep at night. I know that no one knows me better than myself. And I know I'll get this right It's just a matter of time till we make it out alive We gotta pick ourselves up and say Not today, no, not today We live for tomorrow Bake, steal, and borrow
Starting point is 01:50:26 Brave while we can't change We gotta pick ourselves up and say Not today, no, not today I don't need your sorrow Come back tomorrow I'll be on my way I'll be on my way. as Taylor Swift. The theme song is On My Way by Maxton Waller, and there's a full version available on his bandcamp. Take a look at the episode description for a link. It's pay what you want. Brian Fernandez is our content producer. Ashley Nicolette is our community manager. Esther
Starting point is 01:51:13 Ellis is our lead editor. Travis Reeves provides additional editing. Robin Rapp is our transcriber. Special thanks this week to our patrons Eli Goldwag and May Hales for providing names for characters and items. This show is supported by a Patreon full of cool cats. Folks like Nicholas Smith, Dylan Gerald, Gigoro, Derek Robinson, Logical Nonsense, NotBlueFalcon, James Donaldson, Alex, Levi Gillikin, Lizette Delgado, Wyatt Verchere, Howard Shapiro, Harlan Sinclair, Morgan Troop, Harrison Happner, Calvin Chavez, Daria Coches, Brian Moreno, Grant Bowering, and Jerry Kahn. If you want to support the show, the best Thank you. media including two standalone one-shot series in the call of cthulhu and the star wars rpg system we also just hit a patreon stretch goal so we'll be doing a cutthroat regency adventure mini-series
Starting point is 01:52:10 featuring four eligible bachelorettes who must use their wits to attract a worthy husband before their rivals do called sons and sons ability that patreon stretch goal will be available to every patron at every level so head on over to patreon.com slash dungeons and dads to learn more our website is dungeonsanddaddies.com our store is store.dungeonsand to patreon.com slash dungeonsanddads to learn more. Our website is dungeonsanddaddies.com. Our store is store.dungeonsanddaddies.com. There's a bunch of new merch in there if you haven't checked it out in a while. Twitter is at Dungeons and Dads. Subreddit is
Starting point is 01:52:33 Dungeons and Daddies. Welcome, everyone, to Season 2. Our next episode comes out Tuesday, February 8th. We do new episodes every other week, and by the way, the off weeks are where all the Patreon content goes, just saying. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you in two weeks. We gotta pick ourselves up and say Not today, no, not today
Starting point is 01:52:51 We live for tomorrow Make steel and borrow Break where we can't change We gotta pick ourselves up and say Not today, no, not today I don't need your sorrow Come back tomorrow I'll be on my way
Starting point is 01:53:09 We don't have to talk about it. Great. That's what my diary's for. Not that anybody's allowed to read it. But if they ever did, oh, what they'd find. What would we find? Like fanfic?
Starting point is 01:53:27 No.

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