Main | Season One
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Trailer
Samama "Sam" Khalid arrives for his interview with Lena Kelley, manager of the Office of Incident Assessment and Response. Lena finds Sam's credentials to be in good order, but tells him that he shouldn't want this job as "it's not for everybody".
Sam: Please. Look, I need this.
<long pause>
Lena: The hours are punishing and the work is both monotonous and unpleasant. You will have few social interactions and depression is highly likely.
Sam: Not a problem.
Lena: Hm. In that case, I have an aptitude question for you. <slowly> What is the worst thing you've ever seen?
Sam: I'm sorry?
Lena: You've seen a friend or relative die, perhaps? An accident? Maybe some kind of violent crime? <silence> Something stranger, then? Maybe something you've never been able to explain and no one would ever believe. Be honest now, Sam. Or I can't offer you the job.
Sam: <solemnly> Yes.
Lena: Hm. Wonderful. Thank you for your time, Sam. We'll be in touch.
<long pause>
Lena: The hours are punishing and the work is both monotonous and unpleasant. You will have few social interactions and depression is highly likely.
Sam: Not a problem.
Lena: Hm. In that case, I have an aptitude question for you. <slowly> What is the worst thing you've ever seen?
Sam: I'm sorry?
Lena: You've seen a friend or relative die, perhaps? An accident? Maybe some kind of violent crime? <silence> Something stranger, then? Maybe something you've never been able to explain and no one would ever believe. Be honest now, Sam. Or I can't offer you the job.
Sam: <solemnly> Yes.
Lena: Hm. Wonderful. Thank you for your time, Sam. We'll be in touch.
Act I
1: First Shift
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Reanimation (Partial) -/- Regret [Email]
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Transformation (eyes) -/- Trespass [chat log]
A computer microphone starts recording at a company farewell get-together for Teddy Vaughn, who is leaving the OIAR for an insurance job. Attending are Teddy's soon-to-be-former coworkers Alice Dyer, Gwen Bouchard and new hire Sam Khalid, their manager Lena Kelley, and OIAR IT technician Colin Becher. As an afterparty at the local pub is organized, Lena spots the microphone, which belongs to Teddy's computer, recording and has him shut it down.
Later on, Alice is helping Sam get ready for his first overnight shift. She introduces him to FR3-d1, nicknamed "Freddy", a program that searches databases all over the internet for "incidents" which it passes on to them to read and assess. As Sam reads his first one, an email, he is quickly shocked by the contents but Alice assures him that it's just a bog-standard incident. She walks him through the assessment process, which consists of determining the incident's category based on what's mentioned most and then using a chart to translate that to a serial number which is assigned to the case before it's submitted. When Sam asks where they're sending their assessments, Alice assumes they go to "some long-dead database that no one will ever look at or care about." Now even more confused as to the actual purpose of this job, Sam starts on the next case and is surprised when a text-to-speech voice starts to read it aloud. Alice explains that about a year ago, three different text-to-speech voices started reading random incident cases aloud and Colin has never been able to figure out the cause. Alice has nicknamed the voices "Norris", "Chester" and "Augustus", though Augustus doesn't seem to pop up as much as the other two. Standard procedure is to just take a coffee break while they read, but Sam decides to stay and finish his onboarding paperwork while Norris (who sounds suspiciously like Martin Blackwood) reads the case.
Case
Format: Email
Harriet is called by a consultant she had been meeting with following the death of her husband Arthur, which Harriet's sister Darla disapproved of. Harriet notices that the consultant sounds more eager than before as he asks to meet at a nearby cemetery. Dubious but curious, Harriet decides to go. As she enters she sees a figure which is the wrong shape to be Arthur and too short to be the consultant. Fearing a setup, Harriet starts to leave when the figure calls to her in Arthur's voice. Confused, Harriet turns back and as the figure steps out into the moonlight she sees its unnatural appearance and movements. Horrified, Harriet asks if it's Arthur, and it answers in Arthur's voice "Some of him." before laughing and tossing its head back and forth "so fast I could hear bones snapping".Harriet: I don’t know what to do now. I’ve not left the house all day. I keep thinking I see something at the bottom of the garden, but I can’t bring myself to check. Do I call the police? What could I even tell them? I tried calling the company helpline but no one answers. Are you free tonight? I don’t want to stay at the house. I know you warned me that it was too full of memories but this isn’t that. I’m afraid Darla and worse, I think it's Arthur I’m afraid of. Or what’s left of him. Please get back to me a.s.a.p.
H
H
Post-Case
Sam is horrified but Alice tells him to get over it and do the assessment. Gwen chimes in with how she'd categorize it, irritating Alice since she doesn't think it really matters and getting so particular about the assessment has caused Gwen to fall far behind in her workload.At this point, Lena calls Gwen into her office to reprimand her for sassing Lena at the get-together, insisting that even if Gwen doesn't respect her as a person she still needs to respect her as a manager. Lena reminds Gwen that she is free to leave the OIAR if she so desires, but Gwen reveals that she wants Lena's job. Lena simply replies that Gwen doesn't "have what it takes".
Sam tries to introduce himself to Colin with a joke supplied by Alice, but only succeeds in infuriating Colin until he comes clean about it. Colin explains his endless and as-yet-fruitless battle against the systems used by OIAR, and even learned German when he encountered some German source code, though it didn't help.
After returning to the office, Gwen asks Sam what "awful, terrible thing" he experienced to get a job at the OIAR, but he doesn't say. Their conversation is interrupted by another text-to-speech voice, Chester (who sounds an awful lot like Jonathan Sims), reading Sam's next case.
Case
Format: Urban spelunking forum
RedCanary starts a thread asking about the Magnus Institute, which according to the catalog of sites has been "cleared" (fully explored), yet there are no associated records about it. BadGrav31 responds wondering if the catalog is outdated and encourages RedCanary to go for it. ArcherK, the admin in charge of the catalog, explains that the Magnus Institute was given "cleared" status by their predecessor and suspects that the Magnus Institute went unexplored because of it. RedCanary decides to go, and after two days reports that the Magnus Institute is "Definitely not cleared. Really weird place." before promising to tell the full story the next day. Another two days later, FlowersUnderground prods RedCanary who explains that they're having difficulty uploading their photos. They describe the Magnus Institute as being in surprisingly good shape despite being abandoned for twenty years after the fire that destroyed it. They found the Institute's archive and were surprised to find no paper remains whatsoever. They also found graffiti of "symbols and stuff" as well as "some pretty suspicious stains on some floors", and it all "Felt legit in a way most of it doesn't." When BadGrav31 offers to help with pictures of the graffiti, RedCanary announces that the photos are corrupted but tries to upload new photos of a wooden box with similar symbols they recovered, though these photos corrupt as well. ArcherK reminds RedCanary that taking things from sites is against the website's policy, and RedCanary snaps back with an apology and an accusation of receiving anonymous DMs threating to dox them, and warns ArcherK that they know how to dox people too. ArcherK gives RedCanary a warning, telling them that the website doesn't have an anonymous DM system. When BadGrav31 asks for a photo of the graffiti again, RedCanary uploads a photo that is quickly taken down by ArcherK, along with the caption "Canaries should stay above ground." FlowersUnderground and BadGrav31 see the image before ArcherK removes it and react with revulsion and horror, with BadGrav31 asking "Are those eyes? Are you alright?" ArcherK tells RedCanary that they have violated the website terms by posting an image of gore and issues them a temporary ban. Nine days later, BadGrav31 writes "Any more word on this? Is canary still banned? Kinda worried about them after those pics." before the thread is locked by ArcherK.Post-Case
Sam is even more disturbed by this case than the last one, and Gwen tells him that "if you're going to stick it out here you're going to need a stronger stomach". Sam asks if Gwen has heard about the Magnus Institute, which Sam has some prior knowledge of. Alice gives Sam a bit of comfort, telling him he can take a break after incident assessments if he needs to, and invites him to a pub after their shift ends. In spite of the disturbing material, Sam thanks Alice for getting him this job since "it's something to focus on". He then asks Alice if the incidents they read are real, but she never gives it too much thought. Sam admits he doesn't know what the OIAR really is, and Alice's theory is that it was set up to keep tabs on the ghost hunting craze in the seventies and the government just forgot to shut it down.In the office, Colin is searching desks when he notices a computer microphone recording.
Colin: You're not as clever as you think you are. You think you've got us all fooled, that no one knows you're listening. But I do. I know. I'm going to find you, and then-
<click>
<click>
- Creepy Doll: Whatever Sam's first case file was, dolls were definitely involved.
- Deal with the Devil: Harriet was so desperate to see her husband Arthur again that she apparently had a meeting with a consultant that she really shouldn't have gone to.
- Distinction Without a Difference: Alice makes one for a gaff.
Alice: Sounds like you met Chester.
Gwen: Must you name them?
Alice: I don't name them; the universe names them. Through me.
Gwen: Must you name them?
Alice: I don't name them; the universe names them. Through me.
- Electromagnetic Ghosts: Whatever's going on with the ruins of the Magnus Institute, it doesn't like photos of it being uploaded to the internet. In fact, it objects quite violently.
- Evil Laugh: The patchwork corpse apparently has an outstandingly creepy one that causes it to break bones.
- Eye Scream: Whatever happened to RedCanary, whether it was by their own hands or by something else's, it involved their eyes being torn out according to the comments.
- False Reassurance: Invoked by Alice when Sam expresses shock at the ancient OS he's expected to use.Sam: Is this Windows 95?!
Alice: Of course not! Don't be ridiculous. <Beat> This is a modified version of Windows NT 4.0, the business-focused predecessor to 95. - Frankenstein's Monster: The thing that confronted Harriet had her husband's voice... along with bits of his body.
- Gratuitous German: Colin and Sam briefly dip into this when discussing Colin's difficulties in working with FR3-d1:Colin: 'Bout a year ago I figured out it was written with some kind of proprietary German source code, so you know what I did? [...] I learned German. But do you think it helped? At all?
Sam: Nein?
Colin: Nein! - It Won't Turn Off: A minor case, but Teddy's computer spontaneously turns itself on to listen to his farewell party. Not ominous at all. It happens again at the end of the episode when a computer activates to listen to Colin rummage through desks, only this time Colin takes notice.
- Downplayed with the text-to-speech voices: while they can't be disabled or turned off at all, they can at least be paused.
- Meaningful Name: The person who ventured into the ruins of the Magnus Institute, brought something back and implicitly suffered a nasty fate because of it, has the username RedCanary. Canaries were famously used as a warning signal for carbon monoxide in mines, so their death is a warning not only to the other users of the forum but to the employees of OIAR.
- Nothing Is Scarier:
- The contents of the very first incident, which shock Sam, aren't revealed other than being eligible for the categories of either 'dolls, watching' or 'dolls, human skin'.
- Whatever happened to RedCanary is similarly void of detail. All we know is that it involved gore, eyes, and something posting, "Canaries should stay aboveground."
- Percussive Shutdown: When Norris, Chester and Augustus first showed up in the OIAR systems, Colin apparently wanted to solve the problem with a hammer.
- Wham Line: Not the line itself, so much as the fact that when "Norris" starts speaking, the text-to-speech voice sounds very familiar...
2: Making Adjustments
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Daria's job as a visual artist has caused her to resent her own appearance due to how much time she spends on Instagram because of it, even though she knows so much of what she sees isn't real. She does as much as she can to improve her appearance: changing her hair, losing weight, buying new clothes. As she scrutinizes herself in the mirror, she decides to get a new tattoo, "something that really changed my look." She looks for a tattoo artist that is both unique in their designs and not too expensive, and eventually finds Ink5oul, who offers a discount to clients that agree to do a post-procedure photoshoot. Daria contacts Ink5oul and gets a quick response accepting her as a client. Arriving at Ink5oul's studio, Daria sees it to be "the most influencer setup imaginable" with neon lighting and huge speakers. Daria doesn't remember much about Ink5oul themself, aside from a hyper-realistic snake tattoo running up their arm to their neck. Instead of asking what Daria wants, Ink5oul asks why she wants the tattoo and about her life, and when Daria mentions her art career Ink5oul becomes excited, declaring "The artist becomes the canvas!" Without warning, Ink5oul starts a livestream and begins to work on Daria's arm even though Daria didn't decide on a design. Though she's had tattoos before, Daria is thrown into panic as she feels the worst pain she's ever experienced and it's all she can do to not move. Before she knows it, the ordeal is over and Ink5oul is cleaning their tools. Fearful that she's been mutilated, Daria looks to her arm but is stunned to see a beautiful paintbrush tattoo covering her inner forearm, "a flurry of colorful floral patterns entwined with symbols I didn't recognize". Ink5oul hurries Daria out, claiming to have already taken their photos. At home, Daria looks at herself in the mirror and for the first time feels the need to do a self-portrait. She works passionately through the night, and the result is her best work. Daria passes out at some point, and when she wakes up she sees her own face looking back at her, and she notices an imperfection. She takes a small knife to fix it, checking in the mirror to see if it worked and finds that she isn't wounded but the imperfection is gone. Realizing she has the power to fix all her imperfections, Daria goes all in on her self-modifications. As she gets to work on her arms, however, she notices that her new tattoo is starting to leak and spread over her skin and she tries her best to avoid touching it, though as it grows she finds it harder to fix imperfections near it. Daria's roommate Sarah arrives home and panics when she sees Daria. Daria tries to restrain Sarah so she can explain but Sarah hits her away and calls an ambulance, telling them that Daria had tried to kill herself with an acidic art supply. Daria is court-ordered to undergo therapy, and she hasn't made any more modifications.
In the break room, Gwen warns Alice that Lena is planning to make their jobs redundant.
After getting off a phone call with her brother, Alice sees that Sam is researching the Magnus Institute and warns him to not take his work home.
Transformation (full) -/- dysmorphic [video call]
Pre-Case
Sam tries to figure out how the OIAR's categorization and serial number system is designed, but Gwen insists that that's Colin's battle. Alice arrives three-and-a-half minutes late, triggering some bickering between her and Gwen.Case
Format: Video call therapy session
Daria's camera doesn't seem to be working, but she seems to think it's better to start that way with her new therapist.Daria's job as a visual artist has caused her to resent her own appearance due to how much time she spends on Instagram because of it, even though she knows so much of what she sees isn't real. She does as much as she can to improve her appearance: changing her hair, losing weight, buying new clothes. As she scrutinizes herself in the mirror, she decides to get a new tattoo, "something that really changed my look." She looks for a tattoo artist that is both unique in their designs and not too expensive, and eventually finds Ink5oul, who offers a discount to clients that agree to do a post-procedure photoshoot. Daria contacts Ink5oul and gets a quick response accepting her as a client. Arriving at Ink5oul's studio, Daria sees it to be "the most influencer setup imaginable" with neon lighting and huge speakers. Daria doesn't remember much about Ink5oul themself, aside from a hyper-realistic snake tattoo running up their arm to their neck. Instead of asking what Daria wants, Ink5oul asks why she wants the tattoo and about her life, and when Daria mentions her art career Ink5oul becomes excited, declaring "The artist becomes the canvas!" Without warning, Ink5oul starts a livestream and begins to work on Daria's arm even though Daria didn't decide on a design. Though she's had tattoos before, Daria is thrown into panic as she feels the worst pain she's ever experienced and it's all she can do to not move. Before she knows it, the ordeal is over and Ink5oul is cleaning their tools. Fearful that she's been mutilated, Daria looks to her arm but is stunned to see a beautiful paintbrush tattoo covering her inner forearm, "a flurry of colorful floral patterns entwined with symbols I didn't recognize". Ink5oul hurries Daria out, claiming to have already taken their photos. At home, Daria looks at herself in the mirror and for the first time feels the need to do a self-portrait. She works passionately through the night, and the result is her best work. Daria passes out at some point, and when she wakes up she sees her own face looking back at her, and she notices an imperfection. She takes a small knife to fix it, checking in the mirror to see if it worked and finds that she isn't wounded but the imperfection is gone. Realizing she has the power to fix all her imperfections, Daria goes all in on her self-modifications. As she gets to work on her arms, however, she notices that her new tattoo is starting to leak and spread over her skin and she tries her best to avoid touching it, though as it grows she finds it harder to fix imperfections near it. Daria's roommate Sarah arrives home and panics when she sees Daria. Daria tries to restrain Sarah so she can explain but Sarah hits her away and calls an ambulance, telling them that Daria had tried to kill herself with an acidic art supply. Daria is court-ordered to undergo therapy, and she hasn't made any more modifications.
Therapist: Did you try to harm yourself with acid?
Daria: Of course not. I never wanted to hurt myself. I just wanted to be… better.
Therapist: That's good to hear.
Daria: If I wanted to clear the canvas, I would have used turpentine.
Daria: Of course not. I never wanted to hurt myself. I just wanted to be… better.
Therapist: That's good to hear.
Daria: If I wanted to clear the canvas, I would have used turpentine.
Post-Case
Sam asks Alice how she and Gwen can listen to these stories without any visceral reaction, and Alice explains that she just doesn't pay attention. "I just skim the case for keywords, and if it’s a talker I hit play and get on with other work. Then when it’s done being creepy I process it and move on." She again reminds him to not worry if the incidents are true.In the break room, Gwen warns Alice that Lena is planning to make their jobs redundant.
After getting off a phone call with her brother, Alice sees that Sam is researching the Magnus Institute and warns him to not take his work home.
- Appearance Angst: Daria had quite a bit of dysmorphia. Unfortunately, she was given the power to do something about it...
- Blatant Lies: Daria likes to think she started out small with her modifications.Daria: I slightly lengthened my fingers, made my ears little more delicate, straightened my nose and reangled my cheekbones, tapered my chin, slimmed my waist, increased my bust, narrowed my frame, lengthened my legs, adjusted my calves, thinned my wrists, shortened my feet… Nothing much, really.
- Body Horror: When Daria's flatmate Sarah stumbles across her during her 'repainting' process, Daria mentions not being able to talk due to the work she was doing on her mouth. She also mentions not being able to grab Sarah properly due to something she did to her hands, and when Sarah throws a punch it does something unspeakable to her face.
- False Reassurance: Daria insists that she wouldn't have tried to harm herself, and then immediately details how she would have done it if she wanted to, which is hardly reassuring.
- Homage: According to the launch celebration for The Magnus Protocol, this episode is inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray.
- Ironic Echo: Gwen repeats Lena's "No one's making you work here" to Sam.
- Power Tattoo: The tattoo Daria gets from Ink5oul has some... unnerving side effects. It empowers her to make unrestrained alterations to her body, it spreads to cover more and more of her body during said alterations, and it didn't require any aftercare.
- Social Media Is Bad: Being on Instagram was phenomenally bad for Daria's self-esteem. It was also her only way of getting work.
3: Putting Down Roots
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After narrowly completing an unspecified dangerous task, Samuel hides out in a garden "growing wild around the ruins of some bombed-out church". He considers finding a more comfortable lodging but doesn't want to risk having to show ID, and in the end is content with the garden since he knows his late wife Maddie would have liked it and especially loved its scent of jasmine. An itchy rash starts to spread on Samuel's body, and he thinks he starts to hear Maddie's voice. Samuel examines some scratches on his arm and sees "coiled translucent strands" coming out, which he can feel as he pulls them away. After some time resting, Samuel has an aniseed taste in his mouth and the rash has spread, causing patches of skin to harden and split. He knows he should go to a pharmacy but he can't find a way out of the garden, and he can no longer hear the sounds of the city outside. Samuel believes that Maddie is in the garden and has volunteered to retrieve medicine while he waits. Samuel's condition develops further, his left arm hardening to the point of immobility and polyps growing from his scratches. His arm splits down to the bone and he pulls off his fingers, planting them in the ground. He hears Maddie's voice again telling him about a place he can go to feel the sun and wind. As Samuel's skin falls away and roots grow down, he knows "I need to finalize my position". As the clouds clear and the sun shines down on Samuel, he becomes overjoyed in the love of his garden home.
Infection (full body) -/- arboreal [journal entry]
Pre-Case
Colin tries in vain to fix a login error Alice encountered on her computer, swearing that the system is doing it on purpose to torment him and refusing to call central IT. As Alice jokes around and sweet-talks FR3-d1, Colin warns her against treating the program like a person. When Colin finally gets the computer working again, Norris starts to read the latest incident, prompting Alice and Colin to take their coffee break.Case
Format: Journal entry
The case is taken from the evidence files of a homicide investigation. The evidence is a briefcase belonging to Dr. Samuel Webber, which was found "partially buried" and "penetrated by moldy roots". The briefcase contains personal belongings of Dr. Webber, including a medical file on Maddie Webber (deceased) and his personal journal, which the officer in charge copies entries from.After narrowly completing an unspecified dangerous task, Samuel hides out in a garden "growing wild around the ruins of some bombed-out church". He considers finding a more comfortable lodging but doesn't want to risk having to show ID, and in the end is content with the garden since he knows his late wife Maddie would have liked it and especially loved its scent of jasmine. An itchy rash starts to spread on Samuel's body, and he thinks he starts to hear Maddie's voice. Samuel examines some scratches on his arm and sees "coiled translucent strands" coming out, which he can feel as he pulls them away. After some time resting, Samuel has an aniseed taste in his mouth and the rash has spread, causing patches of skin to harden and split. He knows he should go to a pharmacy but he can't find a way out of the garden, and he can no longer hear the sounds of the city outside. Samuel believes that Maddie is in the garden and has volunteered to retrieve medicine while he waits. Samuel's condition develops further, his left arm hardening to the point of immobility and polyps growing from his scratches. His arm splits down to the bone and he pulls off his fingers, planting them in the ground. He hears Maddie's voice again telling him about a place he can go to feel the sun and wind. As Samuel's skin falls away and roots grow down, he knows "I need to finalize my position". As the clouds clear and the sun shines down on Samuel, he becomes overjoyed in the love of his garden home.
Samuel: But strangely, deep inside me, beneath the roots, there is something that still shakes with terror. I don't see why. The sun is bright, my roots run deep and the breeze is fresh and clear. I think I shall stay here for a good long while.
Post-Case
After briefly discussing the incident's categorization, Alice asks Sam to contact central IT for her since she's not sure that Colin really knows what he's doing but doesn't want to incur his wrath should he find out. Sam declines, as he's more intimidated by Colin than he is by Alice. Gwen arrives and asks Alice to cover for her that Saturday, but Alice only agrees after forcing Gwen to reveal her plans of going to an old friend's party.- And I Must Scream: There's some small part of Samuel that realises the horror of what's happening to him and is terrified, but there's nothing it can do.
- Apocalyptic Log: Samuel's journal starts as something meant to express his feelings and address his grief, and chronicles his infestation by the garden as he turns into a tree.
- Body Horror: Being a man of science, Samuel spares no details when describing his slow transformation into a tree.
- Botanical Abomination: The garden, which can mimic the voice of loved ones and cause those who stay there to put down roots.
- Curse Cut Short:
Colin: I know this system better than anyone alive and I still don't understand how it works! So I can guarantee you that none of those mouth-breathers would even know where to begin with this steaming pile of sh-
Alice: <to the computer> It's okay, Freddy baby. We're figuring it out, cutie.
Alice: <to the computer> It's okay, Freddy baby. We're figuring it out, cutie.
- Deadly Doctor: It's implied that Samuel murdered his wife Maddie, and he's on the run for some unexplained crime, whether it's her recent murder, renewed suspicion in his guilt or something else. He also knows how he should treat his injuries and ailments; he just loses the will to do so.
- Eldritch Location: The abandoned and overgrown church Dr. Webber hides in; the night lasts far too long - until he's almost completely infected and unwilling to leave - and when he tries to leave the way he came he comes out in more overgrown garden instead of the road.
- Festering Fungus: The initial stages of Dr. Webber's infection certainly sound fungal in nature, and it's mentioned that his briefcase was found with "moldy roots" growing through it.
- Hypocritical Humor: Colin tells Alice not to anthropomorphize FR3-d1 immediately after he's spent a while alternately pleading with and threatening it to work.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Samuel never reveals what he did that means he has to hide from the law, or what precisely happened (or what he did) to Maddie. Sam (as in Sam Khalid) at least, thinks that he killed his wife, but no specifics are given.
- Sanity Slippage: As his infection progresses Dr. Webber shows no surprise at hearing the voice of his (probably) murdered wife and grows to accept his horrific new state with unnatural speed.
- Transflormation: The case's subject matter.
4: Taking Notes
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As a young man, the writer is invited by the Royal Court Orchestra of the Palatinate to play for them for a chance to be accepted into the Manheim School. The writer is accompanied on the trip by his violin instructor, Oliver Bardwell. Bardwell is quite insufferable, believing that the writer was only chosen by the Court by virtue of being his student and always reminding the writer that he won't be inheriting anything from his wealthy father on account of being a bastard child. During the carriage ride to the Court, Bardwell grows quieter and more restless, muttering to himself and seeming to hear faraway music. Without warning, Bardwell suddenly opens the carriage door and jumps out. The driver stops the carriage and he and the writer soon find Bardwell, his head split open on a rock. Having heard many arguments between Bardwell and the writer, the driver turns suspicious on the writer who flees into the night. After some time wandering, he eventually finds a man sitting by a campfire. The man welcomes the writer, giving him food and asking how he ended up lost in the woods. The writer finds himself telling his whole life's story to the man, who at the end says that the writer needs "a stroke of luck". When the writer agrees, the man smiles and opens his sack, which is filled with various trinkets, and selects an "almost otherworldly" violin which he gifts to the writer. As the writer inspects the violin, he cuts a finger on the strings. Putting out the fire, the man sends the writer on his way with directions to the Manheim School. A few days later, the writer is sent into to play for some judges, and though his performance starts out rough it becomes more beautiful as his fear of failure wells up. As he plays, the writer notices the skin of his fingertips flaying away and his blood flowing onto the instrument. The judges seemingly don't notice the injuries but are both impressed and horrified by the music, accepting him into the school. The writer goes on to be seen as a prodigy, as the pain and blood he puts into the violin are returned in the form of the most incredible music anyone has heard. Eventually, the writer realizes that "the blood for its strings need not be your own" and he becomes a tutor for "the poor and the easily forgotten", occasionally feeding a student to the violin. One evening, the writer decides to perform with his fingers wrapped in bandages to stop the strings cutting him, assuming that his performance will be below average. Instead, the music is more amazing and powerful than ever before. The writer looks at his audience and sees a look in their eyes that he saw in the eyes of Oliver Bardwell just before he took his own life. They begin to attack each other, "a dance of teeth and nails, of tearing and gouging." The writer can do nothing but play on as the people tear each other to pieces, and is only able to stop when a fire starts, burning away the evidence of what has just happened.
Collection (blood) -/- musical [letter]
Pre-Case
Alice confronts Sam about trying to access restricted files, as the system erroneously sent the security ping to her instead of Colin. Sam claims to have been doing more research on the Magnus Institute after it came up in an case (#1: First Shift), and found mention of something called "the Protocol". Alice warns Sam against looking into the Protocol, since she heard "a couple of the old guard" talking about it as though it were "high level stuff". Sam asks how much trouble it could really be, and she responds that "it used to involve Starkwall", a private military contractor that had something to do with the San Pedro Square Massacre. They quiet down as Gwen arrives, leading her to think they were gossiping about her and irritably tells them to get to work. As Gwen gets started, her next case is read aloud by the third text-to-speech voice, Augustus. Alice excitedly tells Sam that hearing Augustus "is a bit of a special occasion" since he's so rare compared to Norris and Chester.Case
Format: Letter
The writer plans to pass on ownership of his prized violin to his nephew after he dies, mentioning that he once thought about destroying it but could never bring himself to.As a young man, the writer is invited by the Royal Court Orchestra of the Palatinate to play for them for a chance to be accepted into the Manheim School. The writer is accompanied on the trip by his violin instructor, Oliver Bardwell. Bardwell is quite insufferable, believing that the writer was only chosen by the Court by virtue of being his student and always reminding the writer that he won't be inheriting anything from his wealthy father on account of being a bastard child. During the carriage ride to the Court, Bardwell grows quieter and more restless, muttering to himself and seeming to hear faraway music. Without warning, Bardwell suddenly opens the carriage door and jumps out. The driver stops the carriage and he and the writer soon find Bardwell, his head split open on a rock. Having heard many arguments between Bardwell and the writer, the driver turns suspicious on the writer who flees into the night. After some time wandering, he eventually finds a man sitting by a campfire. The man welcomes the writer, giving him food and asking how he ended up lost in the woods. The writer finds himself telling his whole life's story to the man, who at the end says that the writer needs "a stroke of luck". When the writer agrees, the man smiles and opens his sack, which is filled with various trinkets, and selects an "almost otherworldly" violin which he gifts to the writer. As the writer inspects the violin, he cuts a finger on the strings. Putting out the fire, the man sends the writer on his way with directions to the Manheim School. A few days later, the writer is sent into to play for some judges, and though his performance starts out rough it becomes more beautiful as his fear of failure wells up. As he plays, the writer notices the skin of his fingertips flaying away and his blood flowing onto the instrument. The judges seemingly don't notice the injuries but are both impressed and horrified by the music, accepting him into the school. The writer goes on to be seen as a prodigy, as the pain and blood he puts into the violin are returned in the form of the most incredible music anyone has heard. Eventually, the writer realizes that "the blood for its strings need not be your own" and he becomes a tutor for "the poor and the easily forgotten", occasionally feeding a student to the violin. One evening, the writer decides to perform with his fingers wrapped in bandages to stop the strings cutting him, assuming that his performance will be below average. Instead, the music is more amazing and powerful than ever before. The writer looks at his audience and sees a look in their eyes that he saw in the eyes of Oliver Bardwell just before he took his own life. They begin to attack each other, "a dance of teeth and nails, of tearing and gouging." The writer can do nothing but play on as the people tear each other to pieces, and is only able to stop when a fire starts, burning away the evidence of what has just happened.
Writer: Perhaps you shall prove a stronger will than I, and will yet find it within yourself to destroy this hungry thing of wood and catgut. But I cannot. I shall not. For my music, ah, my divine music, is truly a balm for the unhealed wounds of my existence. In its celestial strains I have found solace, a sanctuary woven from ethereal threads. And perhaps you shall find similar. Feed my violin, nephew, for I have given it all that I have and more.
Post-Case
Sam is confused how such an old letter was picked up by FR3-d1, but Gwen explains it away as a recent digitization of old records. After Alice and Sam pack up and leave, Gwen gets an email with a recording of someone pleading with Lena before she does something to them that shocks Gwen.- Ambiguous Situation: Bardwell's death. The way the writer describes his expression and behavior prior to his death and how it mirrors the behavior of his audience that the violin drives to slaughter each other raises the possibility that maybe Bardwell's behavior was supernaturally induced.
- Bastard Bastard: The writer is the illegitimate son of an unnamed noble, and whatever his character was before coming across the violin, by the end he willingly sacrifices other people to it so he can continue to use it to play.
- Brown Note: The violin's music becomes this if it isn't fed.
- Call-Back: The episode adds a lot of new context to MAG 42: Grifter's Bone, which also featured musicians whose beautiful music caused people to massacre one another.
- The Corpse Stops Here: Bardwell's death was either unintentional or self-inflicted, but the coach driver knew how much he and the writer hated each other, and had heard Bardwell shouting just before his death, and so assumed the writer had murdered him. The writer's hands were clean then, but by the time he leaves the coach, he had definitely murdered the coach driver.
- Disposable Vagrant: The writer resorts to using these to feed his bloodthirsty violin.
- Eye Scream: During the deadly performance, the writer describes in some detail how a noble bit out the eyes of his son.
- Hungry Weapon: While not directly a weapon, the violin consumes the blood and flesh of its player, or alternatively can be fed with someone else's blood. If a loophole is found to play without feeding it… it finds a way to get its pound of flesh.
- It's All About Me: Gwen immediately assumes that Alice and Sam are whispering to each other about her, when in reality she's the last thing on their minds.
- Musical Assassin: Unintentionally, but when the writer tries to perform without feeding the violin, the music causes his audience to slaughter each other.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Again, Alice is deadly serious when she tells Sam to keep his nose clean and not continue his research into the Magnus Institute or "the Protocol". It's particularly justified in this case, as the only information she ever got on "the Protocol" was that it involved a shady PMC infamous for something called the San Pedro Square Massacre.
- Title Drop: The Magnus Protocol is first mentioned.
- Wham Line: At the end, Gwen is staying late to finish work, she gets another 'talking' case, only this one has a man begging for his life... from Lena.
5: Personal Screening
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Back in the office, Sam expresses his frustration with Lena before Alice shows him some Response Department forms sent to him. Although she again assures him that the Response Department is defunct and he can probably ignore the paperwork without consequence, he decides to fill it out anyway to see if anything comes of it. Alice needles him to get to his day's workload first since they're behind, and he irritably opens his first case which is read aloud by Chester.
Fourteen years later, Tom returns to the blog to use for new horror reviews and explains that when he was six years old, his father showed him Puppet Master which kicked off his special interest in horror media. He tells the readers that his new plan for the blog is to find "unknown gems" in the horror genre to review, and asks the readers to comment any media they think he might like.
Tom posts reviews for Fire in the Sky, Sweet Home and Puppet Master 4 which are later deleted.
Tom makes another post thanking everyone for their "like-minded" feedback and recommendations, which include some media he's never heard of before. He recalls a comment about a movie called Voyeur which he can't find any trace of on the internet apart from an old review on another blog reading "Voyeur needs to be seen to be believed. The scariest movie I have ever seen." Tom tells his readers that he needs to see Voyeur, and asks anyone who knows anything about it to respond in the comments.
In his next post, Tom is ecstatic, calling out a user named Cinephobia12220 to thank them for a link they shared to what seems to be the official website for Voyeur. Despite not having been updated in years, the website is running a contest for a private screening of Voyeur and a Q&A with its director. Tom is skeptical that anything will come of it, but he decides to enter the contest anyway.
After another deleted review for Faith: The Unholy Trilogy, Tom announces that he won the contest, having received an invitation to the private screening in the mail. He notes that this is odd since he only submitted his name in the contest, not his address, but this concern does not sway him from his determination to see Voyeur. He's surprised to see that the private screening is being held in the cinema that he and his father used to visit to watch horror films, which he thought had closed down.
Tom makes another post as he's getting ready to go to the screening, explaining how he's worried that Voyeur won't live up to his expectations, due in part to how desensitized he's become to horror, even to "borderline should-be-illegal stuff". He then announces that his invitation included permission to live-blog the screening.
Tom begins his live-blog outside the cinema, describing how derelict it looks now and noting that there doesn't seem to be any other patrons there, though the marquis reading "VOYEUR FAN SCREENING - SOLD OUT" proves that it's the right place. Tom's misgivings evaporate once he enters, as it's as beautiful and clean as ever inside. Tom talks to the worker at the ticket booth, who tells him that the private screening of Voyeur is the only screening happening that night, and insists that Tom take a free popcorn and drink. Tom asks him about the mess outside, and he replies "It's what's on the inside that matters." At the concessions booth, Tom is surprised to see the same worker staffing it and feels bad about it due to the man's old age. Tom encounters the worker a third time as the usher. Alone in the theater, Tom is confused when apparently nothing happens. He eats the whole bucket of popcorn which he declares is the best he's ever had, and once he's finished the projector starts up. After a minute of a dark screen, Tom starts to hear a beeping that "sounds so familiar but I can't quite place it". An image starts to appear on the screen, which looks like a flashback filmed on a camcorder. To his shock, Tom recognizes the onscreen room as something from his past. The live-blog's speech-to-text struggles to pick up Tom's words as he remembers "the accident" before seeing a horrific figure he doesn't recognize in the corner of the screen. The live-blog ends here, and shortly afterwards Tom makes one last blog post.
Disappearance (undetermined) -/- Invitation [internet blog]
Pre-Case
Sam has an impromptu meeting with Lena in which he expresses concerns about Colin, who he has grown suspicious of due to his seemingly unorthodox technical maintenance and avoidance of cameras. Lena thanks Sam for the feedback but assures him that Colin has never had an incident during his tenure as IT Manager and is free to reach out to central IT should he become overwhelmed. As Sam leaves, Lena reminds him to schedule meetings with her in advance.Back in the office, Sam expresses his frustration with Lena before Alice shows him some Response Department forms sent to him. Although she again assures him that the Response Department is defunct and he can probably ignore the paperwork without consequence, he decides to fill it out anyway to see if anything comes of it. Alice needles him to get to his day's workload first since they're behind, and he irritably opens his first case which is read aloud by Chester.
Case
Format: Blog
In 2009, fourteen-year-old Tom creates a blog and in his first post he tells readers that his blog will be dedicated to review and discussion of horror media.Fourteen years later, Tom returns to the blog to use for new horror reviews and explains that when he was six years old, his father showed him Puppet Master which kicked off his special interest in horror media. He tells the readers that his new plan for the blog is to find "unknown gems" in the horror genre to review, and asks the readers to comment any media they think he might like.
Tom posts reviews for Fire in the Sky, Sweet Home and Puppet Master 4 which are later deleted.
Tom makes another post thanking everyone for their "like-minded" feedback and recommendations, which include some media he's never heard of before. He recalls a comment about a movie called Voyeur which he can't find any trace of on the internet apart from an old review on another blog reading "Voyeur needs to be seen to be believed. The scariest movie I have ever seen." Tom tells his readers that he needs to see Voyeur, and asks anyone who knows anything about it to respond in the comments.
In his next post, Tom is ecstatic, calling out a user named Cinephobia12220 to thank them for a link they shared to what seems to be the official website for Voyeur. Despite not having been updated in years, the website is running a contest for a private screening of Voyeur and a Q&A with its director. Tom is skeptical that anything will come of it, but he decides to enter the contest anyway.
After another deleted review for Faith: The Unholy Trilogy, Tom announces that he won the contest, having received an invitation to the private screening in the mail. He notes that this is odd since he only submitted his name in the contest, not his address, but this concern does not sway him from his determination to see Voyeur. He's surprised to see that the private screening is being held in the cinema that he and his father used to visit to watch horror films, which he thought had closed down.
Tom makes another post as he's getting ready to go to the screening, explaining how he's worried that Voyeur won't live up to his expectations, due in part to how desensitized he's become to horror, even to "borderline should-be-illegal stuff". He then announces that his invitation included permission to live-blog the screening.
Tom begins his live-blog outside the cinema, describing how derelict it looks now and noting that there doesn't seem to be any other patrons there, though the marquis reading "VOYEUR FAN SCREENING - SOLD OUT" proves that it's the right place. Tom's misgivings evaporate once he enters, as it's as beautiful and clean as ever inside. Tom talks to the worker at the ticket booth, who tells him that the private screening of Voyeur is the only screening happening that night, and insists that Tom take a free popcorn and drink. Tom asks him about the mess outside, and he replies "It's what's on the inside that matters." At the concessions booth, Tom is surprised to see the same worker staffing it and feels bad about it due to the man's old age. Tom encounters the worker a third time as the usher. Alone in the theater, Tom is confused when apparently nothing happens. He eats the whole bucket of popcorn which he declares is the best he's ever had, and once he's finished the projector starts up. After a minute of a dark screen, Tom starts to hear a beeping that "sounds so familiar but I can't quite place it". An image starts to appear on the screen, which looks like a flashback filmed on a camcorder. To his shock, Tom recognizes the onscreen room as something from his past. The live-blog's speech-to-text struggles to pick up Tom's words as he remembers "the accident" before seeing a horrific figure he doesn't recognize in the corner of the screen. The live-blog ends here, and shortly afterwards Tom makes one last blog post.
Tom: Voyeur needs to be seen to be believed. The scariest movie I have ever seen.
Post-Case
Alice finishes another phone call with her brother where she agrees to cover another expense for him. When she hangs up, she is surprised when Gwen announces her presence and asks if she remembers a previous IT manager, Colin's predecessor's predecessor, a heavily tattooed German man. Alice never met him, and Gwen refuses to explain why she's asking about him.Alice: What is with everybody today?
*FR3-d1 makes its error sound*
Alice: Now don't you start!
*FR3-d1 makes its error sound*
Alice: Now don't you start!
- Critical Staffing Shortage: The mysterious movie theater is staffed by exactly one very old man. He does ticketing, concessions, ushering, and very likely runs the projector... which means he is probably very, very involved in Voyeur's sinister weirdness.
- Determinator: Played for Horror. Tom becomes weirdly obsessed with seeing Voyeur even though he knows virtually nothing about it. It gets to the point that several clear red flags don't stop him from seeing this movie.
- Friendless Background: Tom's interest in horror movies started since he was six years old, which made making friends difficult for him. Tom also commented on how lonely he still was.
- Impossibly Delicious Food: The popcorn Tom is provided is the best he's ever had, prompting him to compulsively eat the entire bucket before the film has even started.
- Madness Mantra: "Voyeur needs to be seen to be believed. The scariest movie I have ever seen." Downplayed, as we only hear it once from two different people, but it's also the only thing they ever say again.
- Meaningful Name: Voyeur ends up being a very appropriate name when it starts with impossible camcorder footage of...something in Tom's past.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Whatever happened in Tom's Dark and Troubled Past is never fully explained, even as it starts to happen on the screen before him.
- Take That!: When a horror film fails to meet Tom's expectations, he calls it "getting Babadooked" after his immense disappointment with that movie.
- Too Dumb to Live: While he may be under some kind of supernatural influence, Tom still chooses to walk past several red flags on the way to his private screening of Voyeur. The abandoned-looking theater, the employee insisting that Tom take the free food, and there being absolutely no one else in the theater aren't enough to deter him, not to mention that whoever's behind all this somehow knows his address without him giving it to them. And considering that the case was tagged as "Disappearance", it clearly didn't end well for him.
- Unperson: Fitting for a case regarding a disappearance. Despite being a personal blog focused on giving personal criticism on different horror movies, all of Tom's posts have been deleted except of those regarding Voyeur.
6: Introductions
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Another operator answers when the jovial man calls back, and redirects him to the police at his request. The police operator asks some questions, and through his answers it is revealed that the injured man tried to attack the jovial man, though it turned into "an act of affection" as the jovial man, who is either encrusted with or made of needles, embraced him. "Needles" refuses to disclose his location, but explains that he grew up there and it used to be a good place, but "now it's a dreadful place. Not safe to walk at night. I take some pride in that, actually." Needles says that he and the place are marked in a way that "fills that hollow, lonely hole inside quite nicely" and he believes that it's a result of his victims' fear as they realize what's about to happen to them. When the operator asks if Needles was the one to stab the injured man, Needles isn't sure, since the man chose to get very close before he saw Needles' needles, at which point "we embraced". When the operator tells Needles that he's transferring the call to his supervisor, Needles suddenly becomes deadly serious and orders the operator to stay on the line, or "I shall embrace him again and I sincerely doubt he would survive." Needles admits that he deliberately got some of his needles into the man's face and eyes. As the man slowly bleeds to death, Needles revels in his fear, both of dying and of how his life would change if he survived. The operator demands Needles' location again, and Needles asks if he's scared.
Injury (needles) -/- intimidation [999 call]
Pre-Case
Sam is half-asleep as he works despite having drunk three cups of coffee already. As Alice teases him, she tells him to be ready to meet a new hire later that shift. Even though no one else has quit since Teddy, Alice explains that Lena likes to hire multiple replacements since it's unlikely that most of them will last long. Gwen arrives and is completely cynical to the news, disbelieving that the new hire will stay long enough to be much help.Case
Format: 999 call
An operator takes a 999 call and asks what service is needed. The caller, a jovial man, doesn't seem to be taking it seriously, though he has another man with him who is "full of needles at the moment". After hearing that the operator didn't automatically get his location since he's using a mobile phone, the jovial man tells the operator that they will discuss which service they need and call back when a decision is made. The injured man screams as the jovial man hangs up.Another operator answers when the jovial man calls back, and redirects him to the police at his request. The police operator asks some questions, and through his answers it is revealed that the injured man tried to attack the jovial man, though it turned into "an act of affection" as the jovial man, who is either encrusted with or made of needles, embraced him. "Needles" refuses to disclose his location, but explains that he grew up there and it used to be a good place, but "now it's a dreadful place. Not safe to walk at night. I take some pride in that, actually." Needles says that he and the place are marked in a way that "fills that hollow, lonely hole inside quite nicely" and he believes that it's a result of his victims' fear as they realize what's about to happen to them. When the operator asks if Needles was the one to stab the injured man, Needles isn't sure, since the man chose to get very close before he saw Needles' needles, at which point "we embraced". When the operator tells Needles that he's transferring the call to his supervisor, Needles suddenly becomes deadly serious and orders the operator to stay on the line, or "I shall embrace him again and I sincerely doubt he would survive." Needles admits that he deliberately got some of his needles into the man's face and eyes. As the man slowly bleeds to death, Needles revels in his fear, both of dying and of how his life would change if he survived. The operator demands Needles' location again, and Needles asks if he's scared.
Operator: Is that why you called? To try and scare whoever picked up?
Needles: Call it dessert. But you're not afraid, are you? Unsettled, off-balance, but nothing more. Why is that?
Operator: I guess I'm just not scared of needles.
Needles: <offended> Not sca-! This isn't some poxy blood test! Some little pinprick! This is hundreds, thousands of razor-sharp points pushing into your flesh! We're talking about the embrace of an iron maiden, an excruciating agony formed from a thousand tiny hurts!
Operator: Sir, you're clearly not well! And I believe you've hurt someone who may have tried to mug you so if you give me your location I can send someone over to help.
Needles: Oh, I see. You don't believe me. Yes, I suppose that makes sense. It is somewhat outlandish and that's only exacerbated by the distancing effect of the phone. Yes, the more I think on it the more obvious it is that this call was never going to give me what I was after. I wonder, though, which of the police contact centres you're hiding in. Hendon? Lambeth?
Operator: Excuse me?!
Needles: Lambeth, then. And I am sure I could recognize your voice now. <beat> Ah, there it is. There's the fear. Not much, just a little prick, but we found it in the end, didn't we?
Operator: I'm transferring you to my supervisor now.
Needles: Then I'll be going. I've no interest in speaking to them, and besides, we agreed that if you left the call my friend here would have a last little cuddle before I go. I do hope we speak again soon, Mr. Operator. See if we can't find some other frightful little pinpricks we can explore together.
<Needles's victim screams>
<click>
Needles: Call it dessert. But you're not afraid, are you? Unsettled, off-balance, but nothing more. Why is that?
Operator: I guess I'm just not scared of needles.
Needles: <offended> Not sca-! This isn't some poxy blood test! Some little pinprick! This is hundreds, thousands of razor-sharp points pushing into your flesh! We're talking about the embrace of an iron maiden, an excruciating agony formed from a thousand tiny hurts!
Operator: Sir, you're clearly not well! And I believe you've hurt someone who may have tried to mug you so if you give me your location I can send someone over to help.
Needles: Oh, I see. You don't believe me. Yes, I suppose that makes sense. It is somewhat outlandish and that's only exacerbated by the distancing effect of the phone. Yes, the more I think on it the more obvious it is that this call was never going to give me what I was after. I wonder, though, which of the police contact centres you're hiding in. Hendon? Lambeth?
Operator: Excuse me?!
Needles: Lambeth, then. And I am sure I could recognize your voice now. <beat> Ah, there it is. There's the fear. Not much, just a little prick, but we found it in the end, didn't we?
Operator: I'm transferring you to my supervisor now.
Needles: Then I'll be going. I've no interest in speaking to them, and besides, we agreed that if you left the call my friend here would have a last little cuddle before I go. I do hope we speak again soon, Mr. Operator. See if we can't find some other frightful little pinpricks we can explore together.
<Needles's victim screams>
<click>
Post-Case
Sam tries to talk to Alice and Gwen about the case, but they tuned out and didn't hear any of it. Lena then arrives to introduce their new coworker, Celia. Sam is quite friendly with Celia, and after she leaves to finish some paperwork with Lena, Alice playfully accuses Sam of crushing on her.- Berserk Button: Do not imply to Needles that needles aren't inherently scary. They will make certain to prove you wrong.
- Call-Back: Celia and Sam bond over Lena's unusual interview style showcased in the first season trailer.
- Card-Carrying Villain: "Not safe to walk at night. I take some pride in that, actually."
- Emotion Eater: Much like the avatars and monsters from the previous series, Needles appears to derive nourishment from the fear of their victims, to the point that they can sense it and get irritated when their 999 calls aren't frightening the operators.
- Eye Scream: Needles made very sure that most of his needles got into his victim's face and eyes.
- Expy: Needles sounds and acts a lot like Michael/The Distortion.
- Faux Affably Evil: Needles is a very jolly fellow for someone who enjoys going around and impaling people painfully and fatally with needles, referring to his attacks as 'embraces' and 'cuddles.'
- Humanoid Abomination: From the way Needles describes themselves they're stuck with thousands upon thousands thin, hard to see needles. You can hear them clink as Needles moves. And no, they're not immune to the pain.
- Impossibly Delicious Food: The mini-donuts Lena gives to Celia are apparently this, with it being one of the few things everyone agrees on as a positive of joining the OIAR. Alice still says they're probably the same ones she gave to Sam when he joined.
- Mugging the Monster: How Needles' poor victim ended up meeting his slow, painful fate. Apparently a number of muggers have met a similar fate at Needles'...needles.
- Shipper on Deck: Alice to Sam and Celia, though it's unclear if she's just teasing Sam or if she really sees something between them.
- Stalker without a Crush: When the 999 operator casually comments that needles aren't inherently scary, Needles asks some prying questions about his workplace and makes it very clear that they will be visiting soon.
7: Give and Take
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Following the death of her manager, Dianne is promoted to his now-vacant position managing the Hilltop Centre charity store. Dianne finds that she is given no oversight from Mr. C. Clayton, her superior, who also neglects to find a new hire to take over Dianne's previous volunteer position, so she posts flyers in the vicinity to try to get an applicant. A young man soon comes to the store to apply (Dianne later finds that she cannot remember his name nor can she find it recorded anywhere), and his only credential is his claim that he "know[s] the Hilltop Centre better than anyone". Dianne brings him on for a two-week probation, if only because he is her only applicant. She notifies Mr. C. Clayton, who responds with apathy. The volunteer isn't very good at the job but tries his best, and even makes a donation: "a rather large false plant in a somewhat disconcerting ceramic pot modeled on a shouting human face." As the volunteer's probation period draws to a close, he tells Dianne that he enjoys this job because "it's all for a good cause" and that one of his friends wants to volunteer too. Dianne interviews her out of desperation for more staff (again failing to recall her name at a later time), and is disappointed to find that her work is similar to her friend's. The two volunteers often laugh loudly on the floor, and when she asks them to keep it down they respond "it's all for a good cause". The second volunteer donates a genuine bearskin rug. Dianne tries to ask Mr. C. Clayton what she should do with it, but he is on a "personal development sabbatical". Dianne interviews and brings on two more of her volunteers' friends per their request, who donate "a large chandelier of dark glass and an oversized gramophone with a collection of records of what I believe to be religious plainsong." Dianne tries to tell the volunteers that they're not required to make donations, but they again tell her "it's all for a good cause". Four more volunteers are brought on without Dianne's knowledge, but she accepts them since she needs the staff, privately telling the first volunteer that "he should not imply any further volunteer roles were available". Dianne again tells the new volunteers that donations are not necessary, but they bring in "a crudely carved rocking horse, a grandfather clock that leaked some sort of dark oil, a heavily vandalized set of the Encyclopedia Britannica and an extensive collection of abstract artworks." Dianne tries to refuse the donations since they're not in good condition for sale, but the volunteers ignore her. Dianne arrives at the branch one day to find that the volunteers have already opened shop even though she never gave them keys. Inside, Dianne sees that the volunteers have accepted several unorthodox and unsalable donations that now fill the room. She finds her way to the volunteers who are laughing together, and there are even more of them than there were the previous day. Dianne tells them to leave but they keep laughing and bringing in more donations. Dianne tries to get to the landline to contact the head office for help, and sees even more people coming in with even more strange donations, all laughing and telling each other "it's all for a good cause". The shelves collapse as more and more people and items are crammed into the room and Dianne soon finds herself trapped and buried underneath all the items. As she starts to black out from the crushing weight, she hears gunshots and sees gore flying as the bullets strike, shortly before she hears a fire start. Dianne is suddenly freed and sees a way through the junk. Desperately crawling through it, Dianne manages to reach the emergency exit and get outside. Before she can get her bearings, Dianne is accosted by "a heavyset man in black clothing" who puts a gun to her head and asks her to identify herself. Dianne can only scream and cry from the terror of it all, which satisfies him and he carries her away from the burning store.
Sam visits Colin's office to ask if he knows who "Jon" is, explaining that he got an internal email from someone with that name, though no surname was given. Colin attests that there is no Jon at the O.I.A.R., and freaks out when Sam takes out his phone to show him the email. Colin yells at Sam that "external electronics" are banned from his office and wrestles the phone away, breaking it.
Gwen barges into Lena's office and smugly shows her the video of her threatening the man, whose name is Klaus. The video shows Klaus getting away after Lena shoots him. Gwen gleefully tells Lena that she will be using this video (of which she has made copies) to blackmail Lena, as the people who paid her to kill Klaus believe that she succeeded according to Gwen's source.
Agglomeration (miscellany) -/- congregation [email]
Pre-Case
Alice walks Celia through her first case and is surprised at how little it fazes her. Recalling what Alice said about some cases being read aloud, Celia asks if anything sets those cases apart from the others, but Alice doesn't think so, instead accepting Colin's theory that FR3-D1's janky systems run random cases through the sound card. Celia asks if there seems to be any crossover between these cases, to which Alice replies that she hasn't noticed any. Celia's last question is if there's a way to look up certain types of case, such as "every case about being buried alive, or meat, or whatever", but Alice tells her that she'd have to search manually.Case
Format: Resignation email
Dianne writes to her employers at the Oxford People's Trust that she is resigning effective immediately due to their failure to address her report of an incident that occurred at their location at the Hilltop Centre, an account of which she includes in her resignation letter.Following the death of her manager, Dianne is promoted to his now-vacant position managing the Hilltop Centre charity store. Dianne finds that she is given no oversight from Mr. C. Clayton, her superior, who also neglects to find a new hire to take over Dianne's previous volunteer position, so she posts flyers in the vicinity to try to get an applicant. A young man soon comes to the store to apply (Dianne later finds that she cannot remember his name nor can she find it recorded anywhere), and his only credential is his claim that he "know[s] the Hilltop Centre better than anyone". Dianne brings him on for a two-week probation, if only because he is her only applicant. She notifies Mr. C. Clayton, who responds with apathy. The volunteer isn't very good at the job but tries his best, and even makes a donation: "a rather large false plant in a somewhat disconcerting ceramic pot modeled on a shouting human face." As the volunteer's probation period draws to a close, he tells Dianne that he enjoys this job because "it's all for a good cause" and that one of his friends wants to volunteer too. Dianne interviews her out of desperation for more staff (again failing to recall her name at a later time), and is disappointed to find that her work is similar to her friend's. The two volunteers often laugh loudly on the floor, and when she asks them to keep it down they respond "it's all for a good cause". The second volunteer donates a genuine bearskin rug. Dianne tries to ask Mr. C. Clayton what she should do with it, but he is on a "personal development sabbatical". Dianne interviews and brings on two more of her volunteers' friends per their request, who donate "a large chandelier of dark glass and an oversized gramophone with a collection of records of what I believe to be religious plainsong." Dianne tries to tell the volunteers that they're not required to make donations, but they again tell her "it's all for a good cause". Four more volunteers are brought on without Dianne's knowledge, but she accepts them since she needs the staff, privately telling the first volunteer that "he should not imply any further volunteer roles were available". Dianne again tells the new volunteers that donations are not necessary, but they bring in "a crudely carved rocking horse, a grandfather clock that leaked some sort of dark oil, a heavily vandalized set of the Encyclopedia Britannica and an extensive collection of abstract artworks." Dianne tries to refuse the donations since they're not in good condition for sale, but the volunteers ignore her. Dianne arrives at the branch one day to find that the volunteers have already opened shop even though she never gave them keys. Inside, Dianne sees that the volunteers have accepted several unorthodox and unsalable donations that now fill the room. She finds her way to the volunteers who are laughing together, and there are even more of them than there were the previous day. Dianne tells them to leave but they keep laughing and bringing in more donations. Dianne tries to get to the landline to contact the head office for help, and sees even more people coming in with even more strange donations, all laughing and telling each other "it's all for a good cause". The shelves collapse as more and more people and items are crammed into the room and Dianne soon finds herself trapped and buried underneath all the items. As she starts to black out from the crushing weight, she hears gunshots and sees gore flying as the bullets strike, shortly before she hears a fire start. Dianne is suddenly freed and sees a way through the junk. Desperately crawling through it, Dianne manages to reach the emergency exit and get outside. Before she can get her bearings, Dianne is accosted by "a heavyset man in black clothing" who puts a gun to her head and asks her to identify herself. Dianne can only scream and cry from the terror of it all, which satisfies him and he carries her away from the burning store.
Dianne: It has been made very clear to me that I am not to identify the security firm that took this action, so I shall not do so here. Nor am I aware of which individual or organization hired them, except in as far as I know for a fact they were not working for the Oxford People's Trust. They have also expressed in no uncertain terms that the fire is to be treated as an accident, with no further investigation by OPT. If you wish to discuss this further with them, I can provide you contact information, but I heavily advise against it. Unless you send Mr. C. Clayton, of course. I rather think he deserves to be fully debriefed by them. Do not contact me again unless it is to discuss additional compensation.
Post-Case
Alice notices that Celia is shocked by her first talking case, and she claims that "the voice threw me". Alice explains that there are three voices which she has given names to, and the voice she just heard is the one she calls Chester. Celia asks who provided the voice for Chester as she "thought I recognized it for a moment", but Alice doesn't know.Sam visits Colin's office to ask if he knows who "Jon" is, explaining that he got an internal email from someone with that name, though no surname was given. Colin attests that there is no Jon at the O.I.A.R., and freaks out when Sam takes out his phone to show him the email. Colin yells at Sam that "external electronics" are banned from his office and wrestles the phone away, breaking it.
Gwen barges into Lena's office and smugly shows her the video of her threatening the man, whose name is Klaus. The video shows Klaus getting away after Lena shoots him. Gwen gleefully tells Lena that she will be using this video (of which she has made copies) to blackmail Lena, as the people who paid her to kill Klaus believe that she succeeded according to Gwen's source.
Lena: You have ambition, Gwen, I will grant you that, but not a lot of imagination. You are blackmailing me personally, correct? For what? I am not a wealthy woman, certainly not compared to your own family. What is it that you want?
Gwen: I want in.
Lena: Really? <beat> I would want to know how you obtained this information.
Gwen: Too bad.
Lena: <chuckles>
Gwen: What?
Lena: It's simply a bit unexpected. Perhaps you have more stomach for this work than I gave you credit for. And I have been needing someone to step up to the real work for quite some time now.
Gwen: Meaning what exactly?
Lena: If you want answers and authority, you'll have your chance to earn them. I am appointing you as the new Externals Liaison.
Gwen: A promotion?
Lena: Of a sort. I hope you're as ready for it as you think you are. Consider yourself "in".
Gwen: I want in.
Lena: Really? <beat> I would want to know how you obtained this information.
Gwen: Too bad.
Lena: <chuckles>
Gwen: What?
Lena: It's simply a bit unexpected. Perhaps you have more stomach for this work than I gave you credit for. And I have been needing someone to step up to the real work for quite some time now.
Gwen: Meaning what exactly?
Lena: If you want answers and authority, you'll have your chance to earn them. I am appointing you as the new Externals Liaison.
Gwen: A promotion?
Lena: Of a sort. I hope you're as ready for it as you think you are. Consider yourself "in".
- Blackmail: Gwen attempts to blackmail Lena with a recording of her confrontation with former IT Manager Klaus; it's unclear how seriously Lena takes the attempt, but she does give Gwen a new position, one to do "the real work."
- Buried Alive: By the time of the attack, Dianne was being buried, not in dirt, but by the pressing bodies of the 'volunteers' and their strange donations.
- Call-Back: Celia seems to know a lot about what happened in The Magnus Archives as she directly alludes to the Buried and the Flesh, she jokes that at least they don't have to use cassette tapes at the O.I.A.R., and she seems to recognize Chester's voice from somewhere…
- It also can't be ignored that the case shows Stranger-esque beings seeming to attempt a kind of ritual at a place with "Hilltop" in its name, an amalgamation of several critical elements of Archives.
- The timeline of events and parties involved bring to mind the averted ritual from 1787, with a nearly completed Stranger ritual being stopped by a heavily armed group, rescuing an unwitting victim in the process. Whether the armed group is also Slaughter aligned is currently unknown.
- Godzilla Threshold: It's implied the statement is a case of "the Protocol" in action, and that the armed group is the Starkwall mercenary company.
- Head-in-the-Sand Management: Dianne is unable to get any support whatsoever from her superiors, even when the strangeness begins to turn alarming.
- Kill It with Fire: Whatever was trying to happen at Hilltop Centre, it was stopped by burning the place to the ground with the strange volunteers inside.
- Laughing Mad: The 'volunteers' had a tendency to laugh constantly. Even when instructed not to. Even when they're being mowed down by gunfire. Even when they're trapped in a burning building.
- Madness Mantra: "It's all for a good cause!"
- The Nondescript: Dianne finds herself unable to recall the names or identifying features of any of the 'volunteers' and is unable to locate any paperwork that may have been filed regarding their identities.
- Sanity Slippage: Colin's paranoia about being spied on through electronics continues to grow, to the point that he attacks Sam and destroys his phone when he notices Sam brought it into Colin's office.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The premise of Dianne's "statement". She was already straining from not getting any help from her higher-ups, but their apathy in regard to her terrifying near-death experience was the last straw.
- Terrifying Rescuer: The attackers who rescued Dianne did so by shoving a gun into the back of her head and demanding her identity until they saw her breaking down with fear. It's implied her debriefing was similarly violent and ended with threats for her to report the destruction of the charity shop as an accidental fire.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: The armed group that attacks the Hilltop charity center wipes out everyone inside with machine gun fire before burning the building to the ground. Considering its heavily implied the "volunteers" were a Stranger group about to complete a ritual, at Hilltop Road no less, the response was more than appropriate.
8: Running on Empty
CAT2RBC3366-12072023-28022024
Terrance explains that the purpose of his paper is to explain the commonality between Brutalist architecture and liminal spaces, and the effects it can have on one's psyche, using his employment at Forton Services as a case study.
He first gives the definitions and origins of Brutalism and liminal spaces: Brutalist architecture is often undecorated with the raw materials exposed which often gives an oppressive feeling, while liminal spaces are "transitional spaces normally inhabited for short periods" which are known to cause anxiety through long-term exposure. Terrance describes Forton Services as a place where these two elements coincide to form "Brutal Liminalism" which is capable of creating "an effect of absence despite presence, an 'architectural hunger' of a sort". This is amplified by service stations like Forton Services being "devoid of persistent humanity" outside of the few staff, resulting in "unique health risks" to those who stay too long. Terrance begins to recount the experience he had with this "architectural hunger".
Terrance takes a janitorial job with Forton Services in order to de-stress following his divorce. One landmark of Forton Services' site is the Pennine Tower, which once hosted a restaurant at the top with an amazing view. However, government regulations caused the restaurant to close down in 1989, and it became fully inaccessible in 2017 when the elevators were replaced. Even though Terrance is unable to ascend the tower, its Brutal Liminalism still has an effect on his mental state, something he notices when there seems to be fewer people every night until one night there are finally no people at all. Unsettled, Terrance searches for people but finds no one. When he reaches the parking lot, he finds it to be just as empty but starts to see "streaks of light lingering in the air" over the asphalt.
Architecture (liminal) -/- hunger [coursework]
Case
Format: Essay
Terrance's paper is given a failing grade for its content and lateness, though it has extenuating circumstances which he writes about therein.Terrance explains that the purpose of his paper is to explain the commonality between Brutalist architecture and liminal spaces, and the effects it can have on one's psyche, using his employment at Forton Services as a case study.
He first gives the definitions and origins of Brutalism and liminal spaces: Brutalist architecture is often undecorated with the raw materials exposed which often gives an oppressive feeling, while liminal spaces are "transitional spaces normally inhabited for short periods" which are known to cause anxiety through long-term exposure. Terrance describes Forton Services as a place where these two elements coincide to form "Brutal Liminalism" which is capable of creating "an effect of absence despite presence, an 'architectural hunger' of a sort". This is amplified by service stations like Forton Services being "devoid of persistent humanity" outside of the few staff, resulting in "unique health risks" to those who stay too long. Terrance begins to recount the experience he had with this "architectural hunger".
Terrance takes a janitorial job with Forton Services in order to de-stress following his divorce. One landmark of Forton Services' site is the Pennine Tower, which once hosted a restaurant at the top with an amazing view. However, government regulations caused the restaurant to close down in 1989, and it became fully inaccessible in 2017 when the elevators were replaced. Even though Terrance is unable to ascend the tower, its Brutal Liminalism still has an effect on his mental state, something he notices when there seems to be fewer people every night until one night there are finally no people at all. Unsettled, Terrance searches for people but finds no one. When he reaches the parking lot, he finds it to be just as empty but starts to see "streaks of light lingering in the air" over the asphalt.
Terrance: The effect was curiously familiar but I couldn't quite place it. I have since been unable to determine if this effect was psychological, physiological, or atmospheric in nature, but I maintain that the phenomena was accompanied by a disquieting sense of absence. Of hunger.
He realizes that the streaks of light look like a timelapse of moving cars, and that they are starting to come into the building. Not wanting this ethereal effect to reach him, Terrance looks for a place to hide and sees a woman, "tall, young and thin, almost to the point of malnourishment" smiling at him as she holds open the elevator door. Her name tag only reads "You Are Here". The streaks of light appear, coming toward Terrance, and in a panic he runs into the elevator. The woman presses the button to go to the restaurant at the top of the tower and as the elevator begins to rise, she says "Good evening! It's my pleasure to welcome you! You are here! Stay awhile!" The elevator reaches its destination and Terrance steps out into the restaurant. Rather than the derelict and rotting chamber he had been shown on his first day, the restaurant is clean and running with all but one of the tables filled with guests, though the windows are blacked out. Initially relieved to have escaped the streaks of light, Terrance becomes unsettled again when he realizes that the chattering people aren't speaking words, just making speech-like sounds. As he looks closer at them, he sees that many of them have "repeating elements": some have identical clothing, others have identical features. Terrance comes to the conclusion that these aren't people, and realizes that "they were all so horribly thin". Terrance meets a chef whose name tag also reads "You Are Here" and he greets Terrance with the same generic speech the woman in the elevator gave and gestures to the one vacant table. Terrance starts to move towards it but stops when he sees the false people "lean ever so slightly forward in anticipation. Terrance feels a breeze despite the blacked out windows, and he realizes that the windows are open, showing absolutely nothing outside. Terrified, Terrance runs to the elevator as the false people fall silent and stare at him. The chef commands Terrance to "Stay awhile.", which the false people repeat. The words pull Terrance back to the table and the creatures descend upon him and begin to bite, with the chef biting off a finger. Terrance is able to fight them off but sees that the elevator has disappeared. In despair, Terrance decides to throw himself out the window into the void rather than allow himself to be eaten alive. Terrance is later found at the base of the tower, and his injuries are attributed to the fall. He accepts the paramedics' diagnosis of "a stress-induced psychotic episode." Terrance puts his experience towards his thesis regarding Brutal Liminalism and "hungry architecture".
Terrance: I can only apologize for my unintentional extended absence. I hope this may provide some context, though I am painfully aware that no missing person report was filed with the police since apparently none of my colleagues, tutors or fellow students noticed by absence. Nonetheless, I hope that this can still be considered an extenuating circumstance and that my findings do merit further study. Though I would request that any further work be passed to another student.
Post-Case
As Norris finishes reading the case, Gwen enters the break room and is irritated to find a tiny amount of coffee left in the kettle. When confronted, Alice cheekily cites that their agreement was to refill the kettle when it was empty and it technically wasn't empty. Angered, Gwen accuses Alice of deliberately trying to screw with her, including seeking out talking cases to leave playing in the background. Alice pokes fun at the apparent stress Gwen's promotion is causing her, especially since neither of them know what it's supposed to be, and voices concern about all the recent changes, including Colin being put on mental health leave for his recent freakout and destruction of Sam's phone.Alice: Feels like something's going on here.
Sam and Celia pay a visit to Gerry Kaey, a chipper young man who Sam found on a list of participants in an old gifted kids program run by the Magnus Institute, which Sam was also a part of. As they visit, Gerry's grandmother, Gee Gee, comes out and is suspicious of them. Gee Gee tries to end their discussion, but Gerry tells Sam that all he remembers from the program is filling out forms, answering questions, and being with the other kids "in a room that smelled like old books". After leaving, Sam thanks Celia for joining him, even though it ended up being a dead end. Celia asks if he can help with her research, which she explains is about "weird physics stuff. Time travel, other dimensions, teleportation", telling him to let her know if he finds any relevant cases. He asks if it's for a podcast she was recently on, and she confirms it, saying she's "doing a favor for Georgie."
- Adaptational Angst Downgrade: While Gerry and Gertrude had their lives defined by a constant, bloody, futile and ultimately fatal war against the Entities in The Magnus Archives, here they're happily living in a flat together. Gertrude even openly considers Gerry her grandson, in stark contrast to her rather cold treatment of him in the original podcast.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: Terrance decides to throw himself out a window into what he thought was empty void rather than be eaten alive; all things considered, his merely falling several stories onto a parking lot's tarmac was rather lucky for him.
- Call-Back: This case bears a lot of similarity to MAG 48: Lost in the Crowd and MAG 156: Reflection.
- It appears this universe's Gerard Kaey also paints, though this one's subject matter is much less disturbing than the Archives-verse one.
- Eaten Alive: The false people move to devour Terrance when he resists their offer to stay awhile.
- Exact Words: Alice takes advantage of these to screw with Gwen by not making more coffee when there was less than a third cup left in the pot, since it's "not empty".
- Fingore: Terrance loses one of his fingers to the jaws of the chef working the strange restaurant, though the paramedics dismiss it as an injury sustained in the fall.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: The opening of the paper has all the hallmarks of a student trying to pad out their word count; of course, given what happened to Terrance, it's possible he was trying to cope by writing his account as an essay.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Gerry and Gertrude are both alive and well in 2024, whereas their Archives variants died in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
- To Serve Man: The occupants of You Are Here look human, but given this series, they probably aren't, and they were quite eager to dig in when their new meal walked into the restaurant.
9: Rolling With It
CAT3RB3354-14101998-08032024
After a breakup, the statement giver is contacted by Gary, an old friend from school who had previously tried to get the statement giver to join his Dungeons and Dragons games, though the he never saw the appeal. Since he feels so low, the statement giver decides to go to Gary's game night and finds that "Gary has been doing seriously well since school" as he has a very nice apartment and expensive clothes. Despite this, Gary himself doesn't look good and is even limping. The statement giver notices blown-out light bulbs, "a huge leak over his massive sound system", and a stain on a wall that may be blood. No other guests have arrived, and as Gary mumbles about the game they're going to play they get to the topic of dice. The statement giver tells Gary that he doesn't have any dice of his own and will have to borrow some. Gary smiles at this and takes a pair of normal-looking six-sided dice out of his pocket, surprising the statement giver since he assumed that they would be using standard D&D dice. Taking the dice, the statement giver finds them to be heavier than they look, and in hindsight he knows that this is the moment he began to own the dice. As soon as this transaction has taken place, Gary hurries the statement giver out, claiming that the game night needs to be cancelled since another guest couldn't make it. The statement giver starts rolling the dice and discovers that "they make stuff happen". Higher rolls bring good luck, lower rolls bring bad luck. The statement giver doesn't think he was ever compelled to roll the dice, as "it always felt like my choice". After many rolls, the statement giver learns that there is a pattern to the dice and the luck that comes with them. "You get a few high rolls, your next one's probably going to be low. And if you've gotten all the bad luck out, you've got good things coming." The statement giver decides to see if he can pawn off the bad luck by asking random people in public to roll the dice, and despite their varied responses they never actually refuse to roll. As the statement giver continues to do this, he finds that he experiences "a dark joy" when he sees people roll low and becomes angry when they roll high and "robbed me of my good luck". Over time, however, the statement giver notices that his luck is changing in terms of what actually happens, going from mostly tangible results to just an improved mood to just a feeling that something good had happened, even if nothing had visibly changed. The statement giver starts to feel "less connected to the world, like I was a lucky ghost or something, walking with normal but not really one of them anymore". He begins to enjoy his identity as a stranger that bestows luck on others more than he enjoys his own luck. One day, the statement giver finds Gary in a coffee shop, looking much better than he did before. The statement giver approaches Gary who becomes frightened when he sees what his old friend has become. As Gary starts to apologize, the statement giver thanks him instead and expresses a desire to repay him, placing the dice on the table. The statement giver sees that Gary really doesn't want to roll the dice but he does anyway, and for the first time ever the statement giver sees the dice come up with snake eyes. "Maybe they'd been saving themselves for a special occasion. An honor for an unworthy keeper. Or maybe Gary was just really, really unlucky." Without warning, a truck crashes through the cafe wall, and Gary's face and head are smashed in by rubble before the truck rolls over him. No one else is hurt in the accident, and the horrified statement giver runs from the place, now knowing that he has to get rid of these dice.
Dice (bone) -/- fate [Magnus Statement]
Pre-Case
Sam is filling out a mountain of paperwork from the Response Department when Celia arrives. As he explains it to her, Sam concedes that it's likely pointless but "I refuse to give it the satisfaction of giving up", especially since it's become compelling in how weird and specific the questions are, including asking him to rate his earliest four school-related negative memories, asking how many blood transfusions he's had in the last ten years, and one just asking "Why?". Sam seems to be having fun with it, even though Celia admits that she couldn't find anything about the Magnus Institute. After Celia leaves to get coffee from the breakroom, a case is suddenly read aloud by Chester.Case
Format: Statement to the Magnus Institute
Statement and Research assessment for artefact CD137. Magnus Institute, Manchester. Private and confidential. Viability as subject: none. Viability as agent: low. Viability as catalyst: medium. Recommend referral to Catalytics for Enrichment applicability assessment. Statement follows.
Along with his statement, the statement giver has brought a pair of dice to give, admitting that he needed to get rid of them and warning them to not roll the dice, even by accident.After a breakup, the statement giver is contacted by Gary, an old friend from school who had previously tried to get the statement giver to join his Dungeons and Dragons games, though the he never saw the appeal. Since he feels so low, the statement giver decides to go to Gary's game night and finds that "Gary has been doing seriously well since school" as he has a very nice apartment and expensive clothes. Despite this, Gary himself doesn't look good and is even limping. The statement giver notices blown-out light bulbs, "a huge leak over his massive sound system", and a stain on a wall that may be blood. No other guests have arrived, and as Gary mumbles about the game they're going to play they get to the topic of dice. The statement giver tells Gary that he doesn't have any dice of his own and will have to borrow some. Gary smiles at this and takes a pair of normal-looking six-sided dice out of his pocket, surprising the statement giver since he assumed that they would be using standard D&D dice. Taking the dice, the statement giver finds them to be heavier than they look, and in hindsight he knows that this is the moment he began to own the dice. As soon as this transaction has taken place, Gary hurries the statement giver out, claiming that the game night needs to be cancelled since another guest couldn't make it. The statement giver starts rolling the dice and discovers that "they make stuff happen". Higher rolls bring good luck, lower rolls bring bad luck. The statement giver doesn't think he was ever compelled to roll the dice, as "it always felt like my choice". After many rolls, the statement giver learns that there is a pattern to the dice and the luck that comes with them. "You get a few high rolls, your next one's probably going to be low. And if you've gotten all the bad luck out, you've got good things coming." The statement giver decides to see if he can pawn off the bad luck by asking random people in public to roll the dice, and despite their varied responses they never actually refuse to roll. As the statement giver continues to do this, he finds that he experiences "a dark joy" when he sees people roll low and becomes angry when they roll high and "robbed me of my good luck". Over time, however, the statement giver notices that his luck is changing in terms of what actually happens, going from mostly tangible results to just an improved mood to just a feeling that something good had happened, even if nothing had visibly changed. The statement giver starts to feel "less connected to the world, like I was a lucky ghost or something, walking with normal but not really one of them anymore". He begins to enjoy his identity as a stranger that bestows luck on others more than he enjoys his own luck. One day, the statement giver finds Gary in a coffee shop, looking much better than he did before. The statement giver approaches Gary who becomes frightened when he sees what his old friend has become. As Gary starts to apologize, the statement giver thanks him instead and expresses a desire to repay him, placing the dice on the table. The statement giver sees that Gary really doesn't want to roll the dice but he does anyway, and for the first time ever the statement giver sees the dice come up with snake eyes. "Maybe they'd been saving themselves for a special occasion. An honor for an unworthy keeper. Or maybe Gary was just really, really unlucky." Without warning, a truck crashes through the cafe wall, and Gary's face and head are smashed in by rubble before the truck rolls over him. No one else is hurt in the accident, and the horrified statement giver runs from the place, now knowing that he has to get rid of these dice.
Statement giver: And that brings us about up to date. They're yours now, and I never want to see them again. Don't get me wrong, it's a blow, but I'm just not the right guy to carry them. Besides, I've seen how they treat people who give them away. It's a damn shame though. Well, maybe just once more. For old time's sake.
Transcription ends due to interruption. Statement giver declared dead by paramedics at scene.
Transcription ends due to interruption. Statement giver declared dead by paramedics at scene.
Post-Case
Lena assigns Gwen to hand-deliver an envelope to one Nigel Dickerson and "take note of anything he says or does in response, especially his stress level and emotional state, as well of those of any companions."Gwen: Nigel Dickerson? As in the Nigel Dickerson? From TV?
Lena: Possibly. I don't watch television.
Gwen: You must know him. He was huge in the '90s. Saturdays on Six? Mr. Bonzo? The Prank Tank?
Lena: That seems feasible, given what I know of the man.
Gwen: And why not just email him?
Lena: Because I have found over the years that anything less than the personal touch in these situations often leads to… misunderstandings. Besides, I thought it might be informative for our new Externals Liason.
Gwen: Is all this theatricality really necessary?
Lena: I can assure you it is. Consider it an audition if you like. And try to keep calm while you're there.
Gwen: <not taking this seriously> I'll try not to get too starstruck.
Lena: Very good.
Alice meets Teddy at the pub, who was apparently let go from his job almost immediately due to downsizing. Alice tells him about the recent goings-on at the O.I.A.R., and Teddy playfully accuses her of becoming jealous of Celia, which she denies. Sam arrives as Teddy leaves for an interview, and asks Alice if she'd join him in exploring the ruins of the Magnus Institute.Lena: Possibly. I don't watch television.
Gwen: You must know him. He was huge in the '90s. Saturdays on Six? Mr. Bonzo? The Prank Tank?
Lena: That seems feasible, given what I know of the man.
Gwen: And why not just email him?
Lena: Because I have found over the years that anything less than the personal touch in these situations often leads to… misunderstandings. Besides, I thought it might be informative for our new Externals Liason.
Gwen: Is all this theatricality really necessary?
Lena: I can assure you it is. Consider it an audition if you like. And try to keep calm while you're there.
Gwen: <not taking this seriously> I'll try not to get too starstruck.
Lena: Very good.
Alice: Hang on, hang on, you already managed to talk Celia into all this guff. Why not take her on your little Scooby-Doo adventure?
Sam:I mean, I do like Celia —
Alice: But?
Sam: But… I’m not sure we’re quite at the "going-to-Manchester-to-dig-through-a-burned-down-building" stage.
Alice: Right. And we are?
Sam: Well... we used to be.
(Momentary silence before Alice takes a drink and sighs in resignation.)
Alice: When do we leave?
Sam:I mean, I do like Celia —
Alice: But?
Sam: But… I’m not sure we’re quite at the "going-to-Manchester-to-dig-through-a-burned-down-building" stage.
Alice: Right. And we are?
Sam: Well... we used to be.
(Momentary silence before Alice takes a drink and sighs in resignation.)
Alice: When do we leave?
- Artifact Collection Agency: The Magnus Institute in this universe seems to collect supernatural items much the Archives-verse one did, but instead of cursory testing and locking them away, here they seemed to have more active plans for their collection.
- Artifact of Doom: The dice spread fortune and calamity both, but reserves especially horrible fates for people who take them and then give them away.
- Call-Back: According to the case categorization, the dice are made of bone. In The Magnus Archives, Death could be bargained with to play a game for one's soul, and Death always supplied game pieces made of bone, including dice.
- Even Evil Has Standards: The statement giver doesn't give a damn how much misfortune he sows among the people, but once the dice bring about death he decides that enough is enough.
- Facial Horror: The statement giver spares no detail when Gary rolls too low.
- The Gambler: The statement giver used to be a big one, and it's what allows him to be a much better master of the dice than their previous owner.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Teddy suggests that Alice isn't as over Sam as she claims. Alice is less than pleased at his intimations.
- It Won't Turn Off: All of Sam's leads on the Magnus Institute have hit dead ends and he seems ready to give up on his search... and then, without any prompting on Sam's part, Chester starts reading another case about the Institute...
- Lady Luck: The statement giver starts to feel like this as he uses the dice on other people more and more.
- More than Mind Control: The statement giver is adamant that they were not compelled to roll the dice, and yet no one is able to not roll them when prompted to. Even after seeing what the dice did to Gary on his last roll, the statement giver throws them one last time before handing them over to the Magnus Institute... emphasis on "last."
- Mysterious Stranger: When the statement giver starts to roll the dice themselves less and spends more time finding other people to roll them instead, they decide to lean into the uncanny stranger role, to they point that they get a long coat, wide-brimmed hat, grow a goatee, and put on a special voice for their encounters.
- Tempting Fate: Celia explains that after doing a search of the OIAR's records, she hasn't found any cases relating to the Magnus Institute, and Sam accepts that it may all be a dead end. As Celia leaves the room, we hear Chester's voice chime in...Chester: "Statement to the Magnus Institute."
- Winds of Destiny, Change!: The power of the dice.
10: Saturday Night
CAT1RB2275-06082021-09032024
In 1994, Nigel is brought on to be the host of Channel Six's new variety show, Saturdays on Six or SOS. On the show, Nigel appears as a prisoner in "an enormous comedy dungeon" who has to run the show well if he wants to be released by Mr. Six, the fictional head of Channel Six who would always give Nigel a challenge to do the episode with, such as not using certain words or doing a certain action during the show. One segment of the show, "You Got Berried!", is a prank segment where "some serious public figure" is invited on as an unsuspecting guest only to fall victim to a mildly humiliating prank and receive a golden raspberry trophy. While brainstorming for ideas, the show's producer gets the idea to pick a guest who is out-of-touch with current kids' trends and trick them into doing a bit with "a popular children's entertainer" who would actually be "the most horrendous thing" of the show's own creation. For this bit, Nigel invents a clown-like character with spotted skin "running around, screaming his own name and generally being a nightmare". This character is named Mr. Bonzo, though Nigel cannot remember who came up with the name. They invite a chef, Gotard Rimbeau, onto the show for the bit. When Mr. Bonzo comes onto the stage, Rimbeau is intimidated by him, as is Nigel who has never seen the Mr. Bonzo costume in action. Eventually, Mr. Bonzo "went in for a cuddle", causing Rimbeau to defend himself with a frying pan, breaking the arm of the actor inside the costume. Despite how poorly Nigel thought the bit went, it ends up being a smash hit and Mr. Bonzo becomes a regular character on SOS. The actor wearing the Mr. Bonzo suit is regularly changed out due to various injuries and other physical reasons, and "it actually became a sort of ritual. The newest member of the production crew wore Mr. Bonzo until someone else joined." Due to Mr. Bonzo's rising popularity, the show's guests start to expect his presence which causes him to be changed from a part of "You Got Berried!" to a mascot of SOS as a whole, "one of my many tormentors in the dungeon", and he even replaces the character of Mr. Six. Eventually, Mr. Bonzo becomes so popular that work begins on building a theme park called Bonzoland. It all comes crashing down when a serial killer named Terrance Menki is caught using a homemade Mr. Bonzo costume for his latest murder, and even though he had a number of other costumes he used, he is remembered as "the Bonzo Butcher" and Mr. Bonzo's image is forever tainted. Work on Bonzoland is suspended and SOS is taken off air. In later years, Mr. Bonzo is primarily enjoyed as a meme by "edgier parts of the internet".
Alice and Sam search through the ruins of the Magnus Institute, Alice making jabs that Sam clearly doesn't know what he's looking for. As Sam loses conviction, Alice starts to comfort him until he finds a key in a filing cabinet.
Nigel Dickerson answers his front door in the dead of night to find Gwen, and his irritation disappears when she explains that she's from the O.I.A.R. Nigel refuses to take the envelope as "it's not for me", but invites Gwen inside. Closing the door, Nigel begins to play Mr. Bonzo's old theme song and something is heard slowly coming down the stairs. Nigel warns Gwen not to stare before a horrific, monstrous Mr. Bonzo comes into view, screaming his name over and over. This is not at all what Gwen expected, even less so when Nigel tells her to give Mr. Bonzo the envelope. Mr. Bonzo eats the envelope before running out into the night.
Mascot (kids) -/- murder [TV interview]
Case
Format: Morning TV interview
Nigel Dickerson, host of the '90s TV show Saturdays on Six and creator of kids' mascot character Mr. Bonzo is on live TV once again for an interview, and is asked questions about how his career started and how he came to use the character of Mr. Bonzo.In 1994, Nigel is brought on to be the host of Channel Six's new variety show, Saturdays on Six or SOS. On the show, Nigel appears as a prisoner in "an enormous comedy dungeon" who has to run the show well if he wants to be released by Mr. Six, the fictional head of Channel Six who would always give Nigel a challenge to do the episode with, such as not using certain words or doing a certain action during the show. One segment of the show, "You Got Berried!", is a prank segment where "some serious public figure" is invited on as an unsuspecting guest only to fall victim to a mildly humiliating prank and receive a golden raspberry trophy. While brainstorming for ideas, the show's producer gets the idea to pick a guest who is out-of-touch with current kids' trends and trick them into doing a bit with "a popular children's entertainer" who would actually be "the most horrendous thing" of the show's own creation. For this bit, Nigel invents a clown-like character with spotted skin "running around, screaming his own name and generally being a nightmare". This character is named Mr. Bonzo, though Nigel cannot remember who came up with the name. They invite a chef, Gotard Rimbeau, onto the show for the bit. When Mr. Bonzo comes onto the stage, Rimbeau is intimidated by him, as is Nigel who has never seen the Mr. Bonzo costume in action. Eventually, Mr. Bonzo "went in for a cuddle", causing Rimbeau to defend himself with a frying pan, breaking the arm of the actor inside the costume. Despite how poorly Nigel thought the bit went, it ends up being a smash hit and Mr. Bonzo becomes a regular character on SOS. The actor wearing the Mr. Bonzo suit is regularly changed out due to various injuries and other physical reasons, and "it actually became a sort of ritual. The newest member of the production crew wore Mr. Bonzo until someone else joined." Due to Mr. Bonzo's rising popularity, the show's guests start to expect his presence which causes him to be changed from a part of "You Got Berried!" to a mascot of SOS as a whole, "one of my many tormentors in the dungeon", and he even replaces the character of Mr. Six. Eventually, Mr. Bonzo becomes so popular that work begins on building a theme park called Bonzoland. It all comes crashing down when a serial killer named Terrance Menki is caught using a homemade Mr. Bonzo costume for his latest murder, and even though he had a number of other costumes he used, he is remembered as "the Bonzo Butcher" and Mr. Bonzo's image is forever tainted. Work on Bonzoland is suspended and SOS is taken off air. In later years, Mr. Bonzo is primarily enjoyed as a meme by "edgier parts of the internet".
Geraldine: Yes, I was going to ask. Mr. Bonzo merchandise is still on sale via your own website. Do you feel at all uneasy about that?
Nigel: About what? The fact that a few sales might be from people trying to be edgy? A man's gotta make a living, Geraldine, and it's not like I can tell if someone's buying a t-shirt ironically. Besides, people think of Nigel Dickerson and Mr. Bonzo is never far behind, so it's not like it's changing my reputation. In a lot of ways I'm more his prisoner now that I ever was on my show.
Geraldine: And how do you respond to the more recent rumors?
Nigel: Excuse me?
Geraldine: The witness statements from three murders over the last five years-
Nigel: I told your producer this wasn't going to be discussed.
Geraldine: -that claim a person in a Mr. Bonzo costume was at the scene? Do you think there could be a copycat?
Nigel: This interview is over! Don't contact us again!
Geraldine: "Us"?
Nigel: It was a joke, alright?! Mr. Bonzo was meant to be funny, make people laugh! Is that so wrong?! Why am I still trapped dealing with all this- this- Why won't he let me go?! Why-
<cut>
Nigel: About what? The fact that a few sales might be from people trying to be edgy? A man's gotta make a living, Geraldine, and it's not like I can tell if someone's buying a t-shirt ironically. Besides, people think of Nigel Dickerson and Mr. Bonzo is never far behind, so it's not like it's changing my reputation. In a lot of ways I'm more his prisoner now that I ever was on my show.
Geraldine: And how do you respond to the more recent rumors?
Nigel: Excuse me?
Geraldine: The witness statements from three murders over the last five years-
Nigel: I told your producer this wasn't going to be discussed.
Geraldine: -that claim a person in a Mr. Bonzo costume was at the scene? Do you think there could be a copycat?
Nigel: This interview is over! Don't contact us again!
Geraldine: "Us"?
Nigel: It was a joke, alright?! Mr. Bonzo was meant to be funny, make people laugh! Is that so wrong?! Why am I still trapped dealing with all this- this- Why won't he let me go?! Why-
<cut>
Post-Case
Celia categorizes the case before heading to the breakroom, when suddenly Colin enters the office. Upon his asking, Celia explains that Gwen is on an assignment and Alice and Sam are following up on a case, so it's just her in the office. Celia asks about his leave, and Colin explains that none of the therapists he saw were satisfactory to him, and he thinks it would be better to figure things out at the office. As he starts to use one of the computers, Colin asks Celia not to tell anyone he was there.Alice and Sam search through the ruins of the Magnus Institute, Alice making jabs that Sam clearly doesn't know what he's looking for. As Sam loses conviction, Alice starts to comfort him until he finds a key in a filing cabinet.
Nigel Dickerson answers his front door in the dead of night to find Gwen, and his irritation disappears when she explains that she's from the O.I.A.R. Nigel refuses to take the envelope as "it's not for me", but invites Gwen inside. Closing the door, Nigel begins to play Mr. Bonzo's old theme song and something is heard slowly coming down the stairs. Nigel warns Gwen not to stare before a horrific, monstrous Mr. Bonzo comes into view, screaming his name over and over. This is not at all what Gwen expected, even less so when Nigel tells her to give Mr. Bonzo the envelope. Mr. Bonzo eats the envelope before running out into the night.
Nigel: Oh, thank god. That nearly went very badly.
Gwen: I- I don't-
Nigel: Tell the people who sent you "You're welcome. Again."
Gwen: Uh, okay?
Nigel: Now get out of his house.
Gwen: I- I don't-
Nigel: Tell the people who sent you "You're welcome. Again."
Gwen: Uh, okay?
Nigel: Now get out of his house.
A tape recorder turns on in one of the Magnus Institute offices. When Sam can't get the key to work, he kicks in the rotting door and he and Alice begin to investigate the room. Alice finds a piece of a nameplate reading "Archi-", and speculates that they could be in the Institute archives. Sam points out what appear to be woodworm tracks in the floor, shortly before it gives way. Alice catches Sam before he falls into the pit below, but Sam loses the key. Alice tells Sam that all they're going to find here is decay and danger.
Alice: I am sorry. I know you got your hopes up.
Sam: No, you're right. I don't know what I'm looking for. I have… I have memories of weird stuff I saw here, but no context. I want to know what was happening, why they chose us. Why they didn't choose me. Maybe find the bit where everything started to go wrong. But… it's too late. And now, I'm the only one left who cares.
Alice: I care. <beat> Not a lot, mind, don't flatter yourself. But the truth is, closure's for movies, mate. All we get is manky holes.
Sam: You know there's a cream for that.
Alice: There's my baby shrimp.
Sam: Come on, let's get out of here before we fall into what I'm starting to think might be a cesspit.
Alice: Oh, I thought that was you! I figured you'd messed yourself when you fell.
Sam: Charming.
After Sam and Alice leave, the key is moved into a lock at the bottom of the pit, and as the lock falls away a trapdoor opens and something climbs out.Sam: No, you're right. I don't know what I'm looking for. I have… I have memories of weird stuff I saw here, but no context. I want to know what was happening, why they chose us. Why they didn't choose me. Maybe find the bit where everything started to go wrong. But… it's too late. And now, I'm the only one left who cares.
Alice: I care. <beat> Not a lot, mind, don't flatter yourself. But the truth is, closure's for movies, mate. All we get is manky holes.
Sam: You know there's a cream for that.
Alice: There's my baby shrimp.
Sam: Come on, let's get out of here before we fall into what I'm starting to think might be a cesspit.
Alice: Oh, I thought that was you! I figured you'd messed yourself when you fell.
Sam: Charming.
- Affectionate Parody: Gotard Rimbeau may be one of Gordon Ramsay.
- Call-Back: Sam and Alice's investigation of the Magnus Institute turns up many details that are familiar to Archives fans. They find the office of Archi(vist), notice the floors are marked with the passage of many worms, and the final scene itself is being recorded by a tape recorder that was already in the office before they got there. And then the tunnels beneath the Institute rear their ugly head again when Sam drops a key down into them through a hole in the floor and something uses it to unlock the trapdoor out.
- Corrupted Character Copy: Mr Bonzo is this to Mr. Blobby, with many of the details of his story being directly lifted. Both were intended as a minor, intentionally disturbing parody character, who they claimed to be a beloved children’s entertainer for a segment where they pranked unknowing celebrities, that unexpectedly exploded in popularity (despite also terrifying large portions of the audience) and thus gained a much-increased role, to the point of even releasing a hit single and nearly having an amusement park created. Of course (as far as we know) Mr Blobby didn’t become a murderous eldritch horror that imprisoned its creator. Even the show version of Mr Bonzo seems to have taken a more actively antagonistic role towards the guests and the host (with it eventually replacing the original comedy antagonist Mr Six, who was supposed to be trapping Nigel in the dungeon), rather than just being an annoying pest like Mr Blobby.
- Creepy Children Singing: The bits of "Mr. Bonzo's On His Way" we hear is mostly very young children singing, but it becomes disturbing when it turns out that this is how Nigel summons Mr. Bonzo from basement of his mansion when the OIAR needs him to murder someone else.
- Creepy Mascot Suit: The original Mr. Bonzo was creepy even before it became supernatural (that is, assuming it wasn't to begin with), with its first victim being so terrified he attacked it with a frying pan. Now, however, no one is wearing the Bonzo suit, but he's still walking and talking and killing...
- Floorboard Failure: The rotten floor giving way beneath Sam's feet in the Magnus Institute archives causes him to drop the key he found, which inadvertently freed... something.
- Freudian Slip: In his interview Nigel lets slip several times that he's a prisoner to Mr. Bonzo, but as it turns out he means it far more literally than the interview probably took his statements for.
- Interface Spoiler: Averted. The episode transcripts usually provide a level of detail the podcast itself can't, like identifying who's entering a scene before they speak. But whatever frees itself from the bowels of the Magnus Institute is identified only as [ERROR].
- Monster Clown: Mr. Bonzo is designed to be a clown-like creature and he tends to frighten a good number of the people who see him, including some kids. And that's to say nothing of the real Mr. Bonzo.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: As Nigel himself says, despite a long and popular tenure on Saturdays on Six, Mr. Bonzo will always be associated with the "Bonzo Butcher". And Nigel will always be associated with Mr. Bonzo.
- Pokémon Speak: Mr. Bonzo is only able to say his own name.
- Professional Killer: 'Professional' may be the wrong word, but the OIAR seems to keep Mr Bonzo around as an attack dog to kill people they want dead for... some reason.
- Serial Killer: The Bonzo Butcher, a man who murdered people while wearing homemade mascot suits. He had numerous others and presumably wore them all, but he was caught while wearing his Bonzo suit, so that was what stuck in the public's imagination.
- Springtime for Hitler: Mr. Bonzo was supposed to be a nightmarish parody of a kid's show mascot, but bafflingly, he became genuinely popular. At least, until the Bonzo Butcher.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Sam drops a key down a pit in the ruins of the Magnus Institute, allowing… something… to free itself.
Act II
11: Marked
CAT23RC5246-06012020-11032024
Gwen demands to know what the monster she just saw was, insisting that she watched SOS as a kid and the thing she met couldn't be Mr. Bonzo. Lena explains that "Mr. Bonzo is one of our more obviously grotesque Externals", and congratulates Gwen on not getting killed, meaning "you've passed the first part of your probation."
Tattoo (corpse) -/- compulsion [email exchange]
Pre-Case
Celia wakes up on the side of a busy highway, and apparently this isn't the first time as she is only mildly annoyed. She finds that her experiment of going to sleep with her phone on her worked and she still has it now, but she doesn't have a signal and has to walk home.Celia: Hold on, Jack. I'm on my way.
Alice brings in coffee and pastries for Sam and Celia, but Sam is still broken up over having gained no closure from their expedition to the Magnus Institute. He notices that Alice keeps sneaking nervous glances at the door and she explains that she got the feeling she was being followed from the coffee shop, though she didn't see anyone, and admits that she's been dreaming about the Magnus Institute. Alice suggests they get to work to take their minds of things, and as Sam returns to his computer his next case is read aloud by Chester.
Case
Format: Email chain
January 6th, 2020
Gordon, a supervisor with Padstow Groundworks, begins an email correspondence with Alison Leshi, a council member from Cornwall, to keep her updated on the relocation of an old cemetery which has become jeopardized by the erosion of the seaside clifftop it currently sits on.January 12th, 2020
Gordon explains that they've been having to move human remains directly since many of the coffins are too rotten to stay together, and some were just wrapped in cloth. This makes it very perplexing when they find a body that whose skin is in far better condition than the others. On the corpse's back is a "complicated tattoo of a ship sailing across an open sea towards an open horizon." David, the medical examiner assigned to the project, halts the exhumations until they can determine the body's age, since if it's a more recent addition then they could have a crime scene on their hands.Gordon: I'll be honest though: I'm glad of the break. Taking up all these graves is starting to get to me a bit. I almost feel sorry for doing it. The waves are so close and getting closer. If I were a sailor buried here, I'd take some comfort in that.
January 14th, 2020
Gordon asks Alison to get on David's case since he's really taking his time with the body and they can't get back to work until they have his green light. Gordon takes another look at the photos of the tattoo and thinks the inked sun is lower down than he previously thought and there's a shape in the water, as if something is chasing the ship. On the topic of tattoos, Gordon also notifies Alison that a civilian has been nosing into the project, someone with a lot of tattoos including a large snake running up their arm who won't give their name but is apparently an internet personality. They are particularly interested in the tattooed corpse and explains that "the tattoo is an Oscar Jarrett, and that's a big deal to some folks in that community. Something to do with Sutherland Macdonald, whoever that is." This person creeps out the workers but Gordon doesn't want to call the police to remove them since Alison doesn't want to draw the attention of protesters.Gordon: You should visit the site again when you get the chance. The salt air will do wonders for your mood. It's weird, I've lived here all my life, but spending all this time out on the cliffs, it can still reach you, y'know? The waves crash so loud you can hear them in your dreams.
January 16th, 2020
Gordon offers Alison his condolences for David's death.Gordon: If it's any consolation, he's with the sea now. The deep will care for his bones.
January 17th, 2020
Gordon apologizes to Alison, who has asked him to keep his emails more professional, and asks for authorization to contact the medical examiner's office to ask about the corpse.January 18th, 2020
Now annoyed, Gordon tells Alison that he's not being unprofessional, and explains that he hasn't been sleeping well due to "weird dreams, shapes in the water and that", before asking her to follow up with the medical examiner again.Gordon: Besides, I want to see the body again. I dug him up, he's my responsibility. I just need to see it. I need to know what's in the water.
January 20th, 2020
The medical examiner's office has been broken into and the tattooed corpse stolen. Even though he's been anxiously waiting outside the office to see the corpse, Gordon denies guilt and instead blames the strange tattooed civilian who he had seen near the office too.Gordon: They think they're smart, but I saw them. I know where they're staying. And if they think they deserve it, they're wrong. It belongs to the deep. I'm going to go get it and I'm going to find it and if they try and stop me, I swear the ocean will claim us all. I can taste the salt and spray. It's waiting in the water.
January 20th, 2020
Alison tries to email Gordon but receives an error message, as Gordon's email has been deactivated.Post-Case
Sam asks Alice if there's a way to mark cases as connected, remembering the tattooed civilian from another case (2: Making Adjustments). Alice tells him there's no way to do that and reminds him to not think too much about the cases. Gwen suddenly bursts in, looking disheveled. Alice mocks Gwen for her appearance, but Sam takes pity and gives her the coffee meant for Celia. Gwen starts to ask if Lena is in, when Celia arrives and Gwen immediately gets on her for being late, to Alice's derision. After some brief powertripping, Gwen heads off to talk to Lena.Gwen demands to know what the monster she just saw was, insisting that she watched SOS as a kid and the thing she met couldn't be Mr. Bonzo. Lena explains that "Mr. Bonzo is one of our more obviously grotesque Externals", and congratulates Gwen on not getting killed, meaning "you've passed the first part of your probation."
Gwen: What was in that envelope I gave him?
Lena: A name and an address.
Gwen: But for who?
Lena: I'm sure you've already worked that out. But just in case you haven't, keep an eye on the case loads over the next few days. It should become abundantly clear.
Gwen: I don't understand.
Lena: Yes you do.
Gwen: But… why?
Lena: "Why" comes later. For now, it's best you try to process the "what". I'll let you know when I have another liaison assignment for you.
Lena: A name and an address.
Gwen: But for who?
Lena: I'm sure you've already worked that out. But just in case you haven't, keep an eye on the case loads over the next few days. It should become abundantly clear.
Gwen: I don't understand.
Lena: Yes you do.
Gwen: But… why?
Lena: "Why" comes later. For now, it's best you try to process the "what". I'll let you know when I have another liaison assignment for you.
- Artifact of Attraction: The tattoo on the corpse gradually draws Gordon in until he's completely obsessed, willing to commit thievery and murder to get another look at it to learn what's in the water.
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Sutherland Macdonald
was the first professional English tattoo artist in real life, though his connection to sinister tattoos isn't clear yet. - Being Watched: Alice gets the impression that someone was following her on her way to work that night. Considering that she and Sam unknowingly released something from the ruins of the Magnus Archives, and what happened to RedCanary in MAGP 1, it doesn't bode well...
- Call-Back: Sam recognizes the description of Ink5oul from MAGP 2.
- False Reassurance: Gordon insists to Alison that the corpse wasn't stolen by him... because Ink5oul got to it first.
- Hypocrite: Gwen comes in late for work and brushes off Alice's admonitions, than immediately jumps down Celia's throat about lateness when she comes in barely a few minutes later. After putting Celia on the spot and chewing her out for a while, Gwen then tries to use workplace gaslighting on her, saying she's much more understanding and forgiving than Lena.
- Mark of the Beast: A suspiciously well-preserved corpse is dug up with a creepy tattoo of a ship fleeing into the sunset from a shape in the water on its back that causes people to become obsessed with it and (probably) killed at least one person.
- Newhart Phonecall: Chester only reads Gordon's side of the email chain, so we never get to directly hear Alison's thoughts.
- Nothing Is Scarier: We never learn how or why David died, or why 'the deep will care for his bones.'
- The Scream: Suprisingly, Lena argues in favor of screaming when first meeting one of the OIAR's 'externals.'You should [scream]. It really helps one cope with the more affronting aspects of the job. And they usually like it.
- Unexpected Kindness: Gwen's reaction to Alice getting coffee for her (actually for Celia, who didn't show up) is confused gratitude, showing that she clearly doesn't expect such things.
- Unusual Euphemism: Gordon refers to the cadavers that his company is disinterring for reburying elsewhere as "units."
12: Getting Off
CAT1RB4728-09032024-13032024
Jordan bartends at the Soho Gentleman's club. On March 9th, 2024, she hosts a wedding party of middle-aged men. When the groom is receiving his gifts, he's excited to see a "cheap yellow-and-purple kids' lunchbox" as his last gift. None of the other guests seem to know who brought it, but the groom opens it to find cheap merch with the same color palette as the lunchbox and a cracked CD case, which everyone cheers to see. The best man takes the CD to Jordan and asks her to play it on the speakers. Jordan sees the CD's title to be "Mr. Bonzo's On His Way". Jordon never saw the appeal of Mr. Bonzo since she was too young to have seen him on TV, but she decides to not be a killjoy and fetches an old CD player. The music is extremely loud and all the partygoers dance and sing along to it. After a few minutes, Jordan turns off the CD player so she doesn't get a noise complaint from her boss but the music inexplicably becomes louder, even as Jordan unplugs the speakers. Jordan hears a crash and decides to tell off the rowdy partygoers, until she sees Mr. Bonzo himself has crashed the party. The men are thrilled and go to meet him. Jordan is privately angry with the doorman for letting Mr. Bonzo in, until she sees the doorman's unmoving feet outside the door. Mr. Bonzo sees Jordan notice this and puts a finger to his mouth. The music gets louder and the men chant Mr. Bonzo's name, and when Jordan tries to call for backup on her walkie-talkie she only hears the music from its speaker. Mr. Bonzo takes the groom by the arms and spins him around, sending the other men into hysterics until the centrifugal force causes the groom's arms to tear off. Mr. Bonzo then grips the groom's jaws and tears his head apart. The other partygoers try to attack Mr. Bonzo with whatever implements they can find and one manages to cut open a boil, "releasing a stream of thick viscous liquid sloughing out from inside, some vile mixture of putrid water, rotten foam and rancid meat". Mr. Bonzo takes no notice of this as he slams the groom's body into the floor over and over until it's fully pulverized, at which point he eats it. Mr. Bonzo tears through the rest of the partygoers, saving Jordan for last. Jordan raises an arm to shield herself and Mr. Bonzo seizes it and bites her hand off. For reasons she doesn't know, Mr. Bonzo leaves Jordan alive, eating the rest of the bodies before he takes his exit.
Mascot (kids) -/- frenzy [insurance claim]
Pre-Case
Sam finds Celia searching in vain for teabags in the breakroom, and decides to share one from his secret stash. Sam attempts to ask Celia out and though she's pretty busy, they arrange to meet up after work the next Saturday morning. Celia leaves as Alice enters to tease Sam on having "absolutely no game". Sam thanks Alice for joining him at the Magnus Institute but tells her that he's giving up on his investigation.Case
Format: Employer's liability insurance claim
Jordan's lawyer has advised her to cooperate with the insurance claim filed by her now-former employers at Soho Jack's, who she is suing as a result of the incident in question.Jordan bartends at the Soho Gentleman's club. On March 9th, 2024, she hosts a wedding party of middle-aged men. When the groom is receiving his gifts, he's excited to see a "cheap yellow-and-purple kids' lunchbox" as his last gift. None of the other guests seem to know who brought it, but the groom opens it to find cheap merch with the same color palette as the lunchbox and a cracked CD case, which everyone cheers to see. The best man takes the CD to Jordan and asks her to play it on the speakers. Jordan sees the CD's title to be "Mr. Bonzo's On His Way". Jordon never saw the appeal of Mr. Bonzo since she was too young to have seen him on TV, but she decides to not be a killjoy and fetches an old CD player. The music is extremely loud and all the partygoers dance and sing along to it. After a few minutes, Jordan turns off the CD player so she doesn't get a noise complaint from her boss but the music inexplicably becomes louder, even as Jordan unplugs the speakers. Jordan hears a crash and decides to tell off the rowdy partygoers, until she sees Mr. Bonzo himself has crashed the party. The men are thrilled and go to meet him. Jordan is privately angry with the doorman for letting Mr. Bonzo in, until she sees the doorman's unmoving feet outside the door. Mr. Bonzo sees Jordan notice this and puts a finger to his mouth. The music gets louder and the men chant Mr. Bonzo's name, and when Jordan tries to call for backup on her walkie-talkie she only hears the music from its speaker. Mr. Bonzo takes the groom by the arms and spins him around, sending the other men into hysterics until the centrifugal force causes the groom's arms to tear off. Mr. Bonzo then grips the groom's jaws and tears his head apart. The other partygoers try to attack Mr. Bonzo with whatever implements they can find and one manages to cut open a boil, "releasing a stream of thick viscous liquid sloughing out from inside, some vile mixture of putrid water, rotten foam and rancid meat". Mr. Bonzo takes no notice of this as he slams the groom's body into the floor over and over until it's fully pulverized, at which point he eats it. Mr. Bonzo tears through the rest of the partygoers, saving Jordan for last. Jordan raises an arm to shield herself and Mr. Bonzo seizes it and bites her hand off. For reasons she doesn't know, Mr. Bonzo leaves Jordan alive, eating the rest of the bodies before he takes his exit.
Post-Case
Gwen is horrified by the case, to the point where she has no reaction to Alice's jesting. Gwen admits that she's still overwhelmed from meeting an External, but doesn't elaborate further. She asks Alice what she thinks their work at the O.I.A.R. is really for and who benefits, but Alice just responds with more jokes.- An Arm and a Leg: Jordan loses her non-dominant hand to Mr. Bonzo, though compared to everyone else at the party she fares quite well.
- Answers to the Name of God: It even doubles as a joke on her being trans.Gwen: Jesus christ...
Alice: I go by Alice now, actually. - Bouncer: The strip club's private room come complete with its own bouncer to keep out the riffraff. Unfortunately for him, this particular riffraff was more than he could handle.
- I Need to Go Iron My Dog: Sam brings up this trope when Celia is hesitant to explain why she doesn't have much time to spare.Celia: I would need to sort some stuff out first.
Sam: Water your dog, walk your pot plant, that kind of thing?
Celia: Something like that. - It Won't Turn Off: When Jordan tries to turn off the creepy kids' music, it just gets louder. That's to be expected in this series, but when she goes to call for help it also plays over her radio.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Gwen is shocked speechless for a minute upon reading an account of what she set in motion in episode 10.
- Pummeling the Corpse: Bonzo follows up on ripping the groom's head in half with smashing his body into the ground until it's just a sack of tenderized meat and shattered bone.
- Sole Survivor: Jordan is the only one Mr. Bonzo leaves alive in his rampage, which, combined with the fact that he also left no bodies behind, unfortunately means absolutely no one believes her account.
- Stag Party: The unfortunate target was at one before Mr. Bonzo showed.
- To Serve Man: Mr. Bonzo apparently believes in cleaning up after himself.
13: Futures
CAT3RB4622-17092023-14032024
Gambling (application) -/- self-destruction [voicemail]
Pre-Case
Sam and Celia are on their first dinner/breakfast date before today's shift at the O.I.A.R. As they chat, Sam suggests that they "just get all of our baggage out on the table now" since dating a coworker could make things weird. Celia goes first and explains that she has a baby, Jack, and doesn't know who the dad is since "I had a couple of wild years after I moved here." She passes the baton to Sam, who goes over how his parents tried to get him into every enrichment program they could after he was labelled as "gifted", but things seemed to go wrong after the Magnus Institute rejected him. Sam couldn't get into Oxford and ended up getting a job at a legal firm in the hopes that they would eventually sponsor him for a law degree, but after a few years Sam had a breakdown during a presentation and was let go, getting a job with the O.I.A.R. six months later. Celia asks if Sam thinks the cases are real.Sam: I don't know. I hope not. You?
Celia: I'm pretty sure they're real.
Celia: I'm pretty sure they're real.
Gwen barges into Lena's office and demands to know if the case she listened to about Mr. Bonzo's massacre was true and if she is responsible for it, and when Lena affirms that she has partial responsibility Gwen demands answers about why this is happening.
Lena: The world is full of opposing forces. Some benevolent, most not. In order for the wheels to keep on turning, all these forces need to be monitored and balanced. That is where we come in.
Gwen: That doesn't mean anything.
Lena: And yet it is the only explanation you're going to get for now.
Gwen: So what? We're the bad guys?
Lena: We are… managing the bad guys. There should be an email in your inbox. We have another External that needs assignment. It's quite urgent.
Gwen: That doesn't mean anything.
Lena: And yet it is the only explanation you're going to get for now.
Gwen: So what? We're the bad guys?
Lena: We are… managing the bad guys. There should be an email in your inbox. We have another External that needs assignment. It's quite urgent.
Case
Format: Customer complaint voicemail
Darrien has always been poor but is determined to make his own wealth. While at university on a scholarship, he finds a new trading app called Zorrotrade. Taking advantage of its unlimited margins and deposits, Darrien makes some money by shorting and investing in "obvious winner" cryptocurrencies, and while it's not life-changing it's good enough to scrape by. Eventually, Darrien finds a somewhat hidden feature called Personal Projection Short Selling which gives him the warning "These settings are experimental and may not function as intended. User discretion is advised." Since he's basically broke, Darrien turns it on and invests the last of his money into it. The next day, Darrien's friend kicks him off his yacht for trashing the guest cabin while drunk and badmouths him to their friend group, leaving him stranded in France. Darrien is quickly mugged, but they don't take his phone for some reason. After some difficulty, Darrien manages to get in contact with the embassy and while he's trying to get an emergency travel permit, he sees a notification from his banking app and finds that he has received a deposit of £100,083 from Zorrotrade. Checking on the Zorrotrade app, Darrien reads a notification telling him that his Personal Projection Short Sell was paid in full due to "your change in circumstances" and he realizes that this feature allowed him to bet against himself. Darrien schemes about how to exploit this further, first betting £1,000 before picking a hopeless fight, then £10,000 before deliberately crashing a rental car. Each time Darrien gets a bigger payout until he has made over a million pounds. Darrien bets it all, then sends some inflammatory messages to his parents and friends to destroy his relationships and claims several "messed up" beliefs on social media as he walks to a cliff. Darrien jumps off the cliff and wakes up in the hospital two days later. Despite his grievous injuries including an amputated leg, Darrien is excited and demands his phone from the nurses, but to his horror his Zorrotrade balance is now near a negative fifty million pounds, along with a notice telling Darrien that his account has been flagged for suspicious activity and requesting that he repay the balance. Feeling cheated since it wasn't his fault the loophole existed, Darrien tries calling Zorrotrade customer support but is unable to get through to anyone for twelve hours, eventually settling on leaving a voicemail telling his story. At the end of his story, the automated system suddenly announces that it is connecting him to Zorrotrade's adjustments department. There's a click, and he's connected, but what he hears over the phone is not human. And as the sound of something metallic and insectoid grows louder, Darrien begins to scream.Post-Case
Alice ribs Sam about his date with Celia, leading him to ask her to tone things down with him. Alice is hurt by this but takes it as well as she can. As she starts to leave, Sam asks her is she thinks the cases are real, Alice again states that it doesn't matter and even if they are, their contracts stop them from doing anything about it so they should just do the job without worrying about it.- Asshole Victim: Darrien is a thoroughly unpleasant person, being rude, greedy, and unscrupulous. That said, as is one of the themes in this series, that doesn't necessarily mean he deserved his ultimate fate.
- Balance Between Good and Evil: Much like Robert Smirke in The Magnus Archives, Lena claims the the OIAR exists to maintain balance between various powers in the world. And just like in TMA, it's more "Balance Between Evil and a Different Kind of Evil." Surprisingly, she does suggest there are some benevolent powers this time, they're just in the minority.
- Bland-Name Product: Zorrotrade is a pretty clear copy of Robinhood, a Real Life investment app accused of shady dealings.
- Call-Back: Lena's brief explanation of the OIAR's purpose brings to mind Robert Smirke from The Magnus Archives, notably his obsession with balance and usage of the imagery of keeping a great wheel turning.
- Deadly Euphemism: "Please repay your outstanding balance or prepare for Personal Adjustment." From the sound of things, Personal Adjustment involves a horrible insectoid monster crawling out of your phone to do something unspeakable to you.
- Dirty Business: Lena explains that the OIAR is in the business of maintaining the balance - and this involves sending monsters to horribly murder (presumably) innocent people.
- Hypocrite: Darrien insists he's not a bad person, and then goes on to describe how he made his initial fortune: by short-selling startup companies, helping to drive their stock prices down for his own profit, destroying who knows how many dreams and livelihoods just so he could flaunt his wealth to 'friends' who he didn't care about and who didn't care about him.
- In Vino Veritas: Sam is a bit on the drunk side when he finally confronts Alice about his discomfort over her ribbing him about his budding relationship with Celia.
- Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Celia has no idea who her son Jack's father is; apparently after 'moving here' she had a couple of wild years and was 'in a weird place.' Wonder why. She expresses no interest in concretely determing Jack's parentage.
- Self-Harm: The 'Personal Projection Short-Selling' feature works by having you invest against yourself, and pays out depending on how bad your life suddenly gets. Darrien tries to game the system by harming himself in more and more extreme ways, until the app suddenly decides to cut him off.
