Online Session's Audio Issues Cause Cleric To Accidentally Banish Party Member Instead Of Demon

A virtual tabletop RPG session conducted over Discord experienced an audio dropout at the precise moment a cleric player was declaring the target of his Banishment spell, resulting in the DM hearing "I banish the" followed by three seconds of silence and then the fighter's name, which the DM interpreted as the target and ruled accordingly. The incident occurred during the climactic encounter of a four-session dungeon arc, in which the party faced a summoned demon in a ritual chamber. Cleric player Omar Latency intended to say, "I banish the demon, and Gerald, can you hold the line while the portal closes?" What the DM and other players heard was: "I banish the [silence] Gerald." "I looked at my screen and said, 'Omar, did you just banish Gerald?'" recounted DM Lisa Buffer. "Omar was still talking but his mic was cutting out. I could see his lips moving but heard nothing. Then he unmuted or the connection stabilized and he said, 'Yes, exactly,' which was him responding to something else entirely, but in context sounded like confirmation." Gerald's player, Marcus Ping, watched his fighter disappear to a harmless demiplane as the demon remained on the battlefield. "I was confused," Marcus said. "But I figured Omar had a plan. Maybe banishing me was strategic. I spent my turn in a featureless void wondering what the strategy was." The strategy, as it turned out, did not exist. Omar did not realize what had happened until he asked Gerald to make an attack and the DM informed him that Gerald was banished. In a demiplane. By Omar. "I said 'Why is Gerald banished?' and Lisa said 'Because you banished him,' and I said 'I banished the demon,' and Lisa said 'That is not what we heard,'" Omar recounted. The demon was eventually defeated by the remaining three party members over six rounds, during which Gerald sat alone in a featureless void, unable to act, contemplating the nature of friendship and network latency. The group has since implemented a "spell target confirmation" protocol requiring the DM to repeat the declared target before resolving the spell. Omar has also upgraded his internet plan.