Episode Summary: Session 5

Summary

Session 5 begins with extensive out-of-character conversation before gameplay commences, including technical troubleshooting, Uber Eats delivery coordination, and table banter. Brad requests permission to record the session for transcription purposes. Once underway, Shawn recaps the previous session: the party recovered a terrified blob with wifi connection and food reconstruction abilities, calmed it, and began traveling from Rex Tree to New Smoke with goods from Luis Guzman.

The session chronicles the party's journey approximately one day from New Smoke, led by pigs under the command of Lutro pulling their cart through rolling grassland. The mysterious goo ball—now named Goober—rolls along behind them, having become noticeably calmer as its intense cold field was a fear response. Through experimentation, the party discovers Goober's remarkable abilities: it can absorb spoiled food and produce fresh, edible versions in a "reverse compost" process, and everything it produces is edible and digestible regardless of what materials are fed into it. Vasso reveals he has discovered new clerical talents through prayer, feeling the Earth Mother communicate with him through vibrations in his hands, gaining access to the Magic Weapon and Bless spells.

The session culminates in a tactical combat encounter against a Gordian—a carnivorous plant creature—guarding a valuable Money Pumpkin Field. Cat successfully uses a Called Shot to pin the creature to the ground with an arrow, creating an opening for Vasso to deliver a devastating 12-damage attack that completely destroys it. Sucks attempts to aid with silly string but is smashed on the head with a pumpkin for 5 damage. Following the battle, Safia attempts to harvest usable goo from the Gordian but finds everything burned or smashed, though she successfully scavenges approximately 200 coins worth of pumpkin seeds from the battlefield.

Events

Session 5 opens with out-of-character table talk as players settle in. Brad mentions ordering "two popcorns and milkshakes," referencing previous elaborate popcorn delivery pranks. Shawn explains being "racing around in my car" before arriving. The group discusses technical issues and coordinates food deliveries before beginning gameplay.

Shawn recaps: "When last we left our heroes, you had begun the journey from Rex Tree to New Smoke." The party travels with the goo ball they recovered, which has produced "much less intense field of cold" over the day or so they've had it. Shawn explains: "Get the idea that the amount of cold that it was producing when you found it was directly related to the fact that it was like, afraid."

Benedict conducts an experiment to see if the goo ball can freeze water for commercial ice production, betting Sucks 1000 coin on the outcome. When a wooden cup of water is placed near it, the goo ball "slinks down into its, like, almost puddly form," extends a pseudopod, and dissolves the cup, spilling the water. Sucks interprets this as proof that "cold dissolves water" and "cold eats wood."

Safia takes a different approach, picking flowers and offering them to the goo ball to test whether pleasant stimuli make it feel more relaxed. The goo ball "extends a tiny little pseudopod and absorbs the flowers into its mass." Safia also offers it a fuzzy peach, which it absorbs. The party discovers that Goober produces edible copies of food it observes them eating, though the taste depends on what it was recently fed.

A key discovery occurs when Goober absorbs an old, rotten banana and produces a fresh, ripe version, revealing its ability to "reverse compost" spoiled food into edible versions. Sucks conducts extensive experiments by feeding Goober various materials including rocks, finding that "everything that's come out of it has been edible and consumable and digestible," though rocks make the output taste "terrible" and bitter. The goo ball reminds Sucks of ice chests from his childhood: "You can just put food in it. It keeps it, and then you get it out when you need to eat it."

Safia theorizes that Goober might be related to the Food Doosers—food replicators that existed in the city before it became the blasted wasteland. The party engages in a democratic voting process to name their companion, with suggestions including Goober, Boobs Frankenstein, and Cooper, ultimately settling unanimously on "Goober the Ice Raccoon" despite Sucks's preference for Boobs Frankenstein. The party learns that Goober chases strings playfully, while Monster the cat remains hesitant around it. Cat remains convinced that Goober is an ice raccoon.

Sucks shares a story about visiting Ice France with his family on Christmas break, where raccoons are featured attractions in zoos.

Vasso announces: "Yeah. FYI, guys, while we're on this little journey, I've discovered some new talents, by the way." He reveals he has discovered new clerical talents through prayer, feeling the Earth Mother communicate with him through vibrations in his hands. This revelation leads to discussion of his religious beliefs about sin and proper devotion, with Safia wondering if he has a malfunctioning implant like hers, while Sucks makes crude jokes that deeply embarrass the paladin. Vasso gains access to two level one spells: Magic Weapon and Bless.

The party undertakes a Perilous Journey with defined roles: Sucks scouts ahead (rolling an 8 and choosing to make a discovery), Vasso navigates (rolling a 7), and Safia manages provisions while bonding with Goober. Shawn states: "All right, then we. So I think it's probably safe to assume that you are conceptually like one day away from new smoke."

During the scouting mission, Sucks and Kat walk half a mile ahead with Monster, and conversation turns to Cow Pies. Sucks completely misunderstands what cow pies are, believing cows produce actual pastries and leaving them on the ground: "They make pies and then just leave them places. I've never seen a cow do this. We gotta find some of these pies. I gotta get one of them." Shawn begins rolling D12s to randomly generate the discovery Sucks will make.

Shawn narrates: "And as you're having this conversation, you round a bend in the road, coming around like a boulder that was set next to the trail, and you see a field, like a huge clearing, absolutely full of fruiting plants." The field is revealed to be full of Money Pumpkins. Shawn describes: "You see one of the pumpkins, like, rise up on with a stocky, like, vine wrapped around it. And then it just gets whipped through the air, and you see a pumpkin sailing through the air towards Cat and sucks."

Sucks attempts to shoot the pumpkin with an arrow. Shawn narrates: "You bullseye this pumpkin, you split it right down the middle in half, and then one of the halves just plows into your chest." The party debates whether to engage with the creature or protect Goober. Vasso states: "I feel like Goober is one of our best friends now, and we shouldn't put him into danger."

Sucks prioritizes his companions in order: "So it's Fjerrald the pig. then it's Cow, then it's Goober, Then it's the Hillary Duff poster that I stole. Then it's Cat, then it's Monster, then it's Vassa, then it's Safiya." He declares: "Yeah, tell my story, guys. If and when I die. And then he runs out into the" field.

The combat unfolds with Sucks "hopping over pumpkins, just, like, yelling at this thing." Shawn describes the creature: "This is what you see. It looks like this little decomposing pumpkin with, like, a mouth and eyes split into the pumpkin flesh and then these fat, stubby little vine tendrils that it, like, reaches out that stretch far beyond what it looks like they should be able to."

Sucks fails to dodge and "disappears behind a bunch of pumpkins" after being struck. Vasso runs into the field "holding your sword aloft, asking Earth Mother to bless you with the might required to defeat your enemy" but is "quickly dragged to the ground and then whipping through the field, being dragged by your ankle through a bunch of pumpkins."

Cat's "arrow whistles through the air and slices right through the vine that was holding Vasso's leg." Vasso manages to hack free. Shawn provides context: "You have never seen one of these before, but you've heard of them. They are natural." The creatures are "like, weirdly natural creatures. They're not quite animals. They are more plants. They're like a carnivorous plant. And they're colloquially called gordians." They "tend to live inside a patch of whatever plant they look like, and they just lie in wait, and they usually end up in the middle of a particularly lush patch because they kill whatever they can get a hold of, and then it decomposes into the fields and creates, like, a natural fertilizer."

Sucks attempts to aid by spraying silly string on the creature but fails his roll and is "smashed on the head with a pumpkin for 5 damage." The creature is left vulnerable: "They do nothing but stand and drool for a few moments right after it smashes. Sucks on the top of the head. With a pumpkin that explodes everywhere, arrow arcs through the sky and pierces into the side of it."

Cat successfully uses a Called Shot to pin the Gordian to the ground with an arrow. This creates an opening for Vasso, who delivers the killing blow: "Well, I'm enraged, obviously. Covered in goo. And I come at it and strike down to the right and slash into it. And then I lift it up and I slash it again." He continues: "I jump on it, both feet and then stab it right down in the stalk and press my sword, right. And like I basically sword and the stoned this thing because my so deep inside I'm like wildly enraged at this thing." The attack deals 12 damage total (9 base plus 3 from Exterminatus ability), completely destroying the creature. Sucks then sprays silly string into the dead creature's mouth and lights it on fire.

After the battle, Safia attempts to harvest usable goo from the Gordian for study but fails her roll, finding that everything has been burned or smashed into the dirt. However, she successfully scavenges "a few handfuls of coin sized pumpkin seeds that you would hazard are probably around like 200ish coins."

The party discusses various business proposals for the remaining pumpkin field, including collecting pumpkins to sell at New Smoke, feeding them to Goober to create pumpkin-flavored food products, or having Goober create pies to sell. Shawn notes: "I think it's a situation where if you feed it a pumpkin pie, it might be like pumpkin pie."

The session concludes with End of Session Move calculations. The party agrees they learned something new and interesting about the world (Gordians and Money Pumpkins) and overcame a notable monster or enemy, earning experience. Abdul increases intelligence by 1 to 11 and reaches level three. Erin takes new moves including Deliver a Message and Escape from bind.

Out-of-character, Abdul asks: "Do you, Dana, do you think the show is. Our show has jumped the Shark?" Shawn responds: "We were worried about it because of one tweet." Abdul declares: "FYI, it's the greatest thing I've ever been involved in." Shawn concludes: "Rex Tree Nights is the Adult Swim of Dungeon World podcasts."

Key Developments

Goober reveals its "reverse compost" ability: it can absorb spoiled food and produce fresh, edible versions
Everything Goober produces is edible and digestible regardless of input material (including rocks), though non-food inputs make the output taste terrible
Goober's intense cold field was a fear response; it produces much less cold when calm
Vasso discovers new clerical talents through prayer to the Earth Mother, gaining access to the Magic Weapon and Bless spells
The party names the goo ball "Goober the Ice Raccoon" through democratic vote
Party undertakes a Perilous Journey: Sucks scouts (rolls 8, makes a discovery), Vasso navigates (rolls 7), Safia manages provisions
Sucks discovers the Money Pumpkin Field, triggering combat with a Gordian
Cat uses Called Shot to pin the Gordian with an arrow, disabling it
Vasso delivers killing blow to Gordian with 12 damage total (9 base + 3 from Exterminatus)
Sucks takes 5 damage from pumpkin impact after failed Defy Danger
Safia scavenges approximately 200 coins worth of pumpkin seeds from the battlefield
Abdul reaches level 3, increases intelligence to 11
Erin gains new moves: Deliver a Message and Escape from bind
Party learns about Gordians: carnivorous plant creatures that lie in wait among their host plants and fertilize the field with decomposing prey