It Could Happen Here: CZM Book Club – Pathfinder: Dawn of the Frogs, Part Four

Cool Zone Media & iHeartPodcasts | November 23, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode features the fourth session of the Cool Zone Media Book Club’s ongoing Pathfinder actual play, “Dawn of the Frogs.” The cast—Margaret Killjoy, Robert Evans, Hazel, and Garrison Davis, guided by GM Jason—continues the weird, funny, and action-packed fantasy romp through a swamp, as their band of misfit adventurers complete a crucial quest for mysterious ingredients, face down a giant monster, and unravel the growing strangeness at the heart of Bog Bottom.

The episode is thick with playful banter, genre-savvy jokes, and immersive roleplay, entwining humor and leftist commentary with classic tabletop adventure. This session picks up as the party prepares to search for the last ingredient to cure the town’s memory-afflicted villagers, and careens through undead combat, grave-robbing, and a harrowing boss fight on a barge.

Key Discussion Points & Episode Breakdown

1. The Party Recap and Introductions (03:23–06:24)

• Margaret (“Spite”): The intro flows with in-character jokes and the “Dog Frog Dog, the raw dog podcast” fake bit to set the tone ([03:07]).
• Jason, the GM, recaps the campaign: The group rescued missing villagers, discovered their memories were altered, and are now gathering ingredients for a cure (lantern berries, pale waning mushrooms, tomb flower petals).
• Character Introductions:
  • Trant: “Widely considered to be the best whatever you call someone who's piloting whatever kind of boat this is…” (Robert, [06:24])
  • Squash: “Dogman…a nasty freak…three feet tall and full of sass, baby.” (Hazel, [06:38])
  • Sister Murdragona (Murdy): “Half orc cleric. Soup nun.” (Garrison, [06:52])
  • Spite: “Named after one of the virtues…human champion of melani.” (Margaret, [07:01])

2. Preparations and Philosophical Swamp Talk (07:10–12:45)

• Healing Mechanics: Spite provides healing by lighting helmet candles and pondering the “necessity of revolution,” while others pole the barge ([08:23]).
• A meandering, comedic debate about terrorism vs. freedom fighting:
  • Trant: “I've heard it said that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter...I'm 100% a terrorist.” ([10:00])
  • Squash: “I love doing terrorism and I hate doing freedom fighting.” ([10:08])
  • Spite chimes in on the “complex dichotomy”—a recurring thread of leftist theory and self-aware dark humor.

3. Navigating the Swamp and the Soggy Cemetery (12:45–16:36)

• Sister Murdragona rolls a stunning navigation check ([11:14]).
• The group arrives at a sunken cemetery, atmospheric details: “Headstones…like crooked teeth…crumbling mausoleum covered in vines bearing bone white flowers.” ([12:45])
• Banter about fan art, Squash’s near-death recovery (and “jug band afterlife” vision), and general preparedness for trouble.

Notable moment:

“All you perverts who do fan art take note.” —Squash ([12:04])

4. Skeleton Showdown (16:36–36:08)

• Four armed skeletons emerge; initiative is rolled.
  • Trant: Immediate Nat 20, pulls a shotgun, destroys a skeleton with “chitinous fly corpse” shot ([19:06]).

    “My great grandpappy…taught me the ideal weapon to use against any kind of skeleton…my shotgun.” —Trant ([19:06])

  • Squash improvises gravestone attacks; Spite caves in another with a Morningstar.
  • Humorous moments:
    • Squash struggles with math on initiative ([17:29]).
    • Repeated jokes about “stone beers” and shotgun “sponsor” gags ([20:06]).
  • Murdragona casts a mass heal, damaging skeletons via holy power ([31:25]).
  • Combat ends with Squash smashing the last skeleton with a tombstone, glorious sound effects, and party-wide celebration.

5. Grave-Robbing & Loot (36:08–41:00)

• The party “picks” the mausoleum lock (Squash’s moment: “I was born to grave-rob, baby” – [38:03]), finds a couple rings, but little treasure.
• The group shares drinks and puns, discusses using loot for "revolutionary supplies," and jokes about advertising “Corpses 'R Us” ([41:10]).
  • Spite justifies grave-robbing as principled: “Who gets to have a thing like that, that mausoleum?”

6. Return Journey—Ambush on the Barge (45:17–71:52)

• Ingredients secured, the party heads back in growing darkness; banter about dice superstition and dice sponsorship ([46:49]).

• Ambush! Two Tusk, a massive tusked frog-slash-boss-monster, leaps onto the raft.

  • Players react in alarm: “Oh, fuck...Holy shit. That thing's huge.”
  • The raft becomes “difficult terrain” as the monster greases it up; Squash grapples Two Tusk in a “swashbuckling” move, maintains panache.
  • Trant launches a fusillade of alchemical bombs, Spite attempts epic attacker moves but whiffs due to dice luck.
  • Squash’s hero moment: Grappling and stabbing the beast, surviving massive tusk attacks thanks to teamwork and Liberating Step mitigation.
  • Final killing blows: Trant’s bombs as Squash releases the monster and Spite retrieves a magic dagger from its hide ([71:01]).

    "Almost as if drawing it from a sheath, you reach forward, grab the dagger, and just hold onto it as the giant body of the Slurk…slides off..." —Jason ([71:05])

• Insight into Pathfinder mechanics and lore throughout, with jokes about spell options, dice, and game history.

  • Group debates loot division and dreams of weapon-upgrades and “the revolution.”

7. The Villager Cure and New Revelations (73:34–End)

• The group returns victorious; Ledrusa brews the cure, with party delivering a moral aside about respecting mushroom Leshy ([73:34]).

  • Spite: “You really should talk to them and get their permission first.”

• Villagers are treated; Ledrusa is genuinely grateful and takes note about Leshy.

• Inquiry into the Boggard plot: The villagers recount being well-fed captives, told they’ll “join their friends in the great work,” hinting at a deeper mystery ([78:41]).

• Ledrusa hints that one “last adventure” awaits.

  “Seems to me that the town might need you for one last adventure.” —Ledrusa ([79:20])

• Party jokes about revolutionary organizing and recruitment, prepping for further sessions.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “[I'm] just lighting the candles on my helmet and thinking about the necessity of revolution and the complexity of all the moral questions involved.” —Spite, [08:23]
• “I love doing terrorism and I hate doing freedom fighting.” —Squash, [10:08]
• “My great grandpappy…taught me the ideal weapon to use against any kind of skeleton…my shotgun.” —Trant, [19:06]
• “I was born to grave-rob, baby.” —Squash, [38:03]
• “All you perverts who do fan art take note.” —Squash, [12:04]
• “You know, they say the Grand Canyon is the biggest hole in this world next to this guy's mouth. And I throw a big bomb in there.” —Squash, [54:45]
• “The beauty of grenades is even if you don't hit what you're trying to hit, you hit something. And sometimes that's good enough.” —Trant, [72:21]

Important Timestamps

• [03:23] – Tabletop RPG takeover intro, recaps, and character introductions
• [10:00] – "Terrorist" vs "Freedom Fighter" philosophical jokes
• [12:45] – Arrival at the foggy, haunted cemetery
• [16:36] – Skeleton combat begins
• [36:08] – Mausoleum lock-picking, grave-robbing antics
• [45:17] – Preparation for return, atmospheric swamp journey
• [51:00] – Two Tusk (boss monster) leaps onto the barge; major combat
• [71:05] – Spite retrieves the magic dagger from Two Tusk’s corpse
• [73:34] – Return to Bog Bottom, curing the villagers, and aftermath
• [78:41] – Villagers reveal Boggard’s “great work”; foreshadowing the next mission
• [79:44] – Session wraps, jokes about recruiting for the revolution

Tone, Format & Style

• Banter-heavy, with dark humor and TTRPG nerdiness.
• Frequent leftist and anti-capitalist jokes, player meta-commentary, and a balance between action, mechanical detail, and party roleplay.
• The hosts effortlessly blend in-game action with real-world social theory, podcast in-jokes, and self-deprecating wit (“Dog Frog Dog, the raw dog podcast…”).
• Playful jabs at ads and sponsors, including recurring fake advertisements and dice jokes.

Summary: Why Listen?

This episode is a must for fans of edgy, comedic, and politically aware actual play. The group’s chemistry is electric—careening from graveyard slapstick to revolutionary theory to absurdist improvisation—while always keeping the listener engaged in the unfolding mysteries of the swamp and the mechanics of Pathfinder play. Newcomers can easily follow thanks to strong narrative recaps and character clarity, while those invested in the campaign will be eager for Part Five after the hints of a bigger Boggard plot.

Next week: What are the “Great Works” of the Boggards, and will our anti-heroes save Bog Bottom—or burn it all down? Stay tuned for more mayhem, magic, and mutual aid.