The Magnus Archives - MAG 197 - Connected

Episode Date: March 4, 2021

Case ########-37A discussion on the edge of reality, recorded in situContent warnings:Heights & vertigo (inc. SFX)Spiders (inc. SFX)ManipulationBody horror (inc. SFX)ThreatsExplicit languageDiscussions of: altered reality, mass suffering, arsonMentions: mental disorientation, kidnapping, death & murder, apocalypse, paranoiaSFX: Insects, high-pitched sounds, overlapping voicesTranscripts:PDF - https://cutt.ly/Cl78av1DOC - https://cutt.ly/3l78vYaThanks to this week's Patrons: Laurel Buchanan, Maria Maksimova, Nikki, Seren Mist, Vince Nguyen, Asha Perry, DamienandFishGreco, Haberdasher, Jay Palmer, John Anglo, Jose Manuel Santiago Yepes, Katherine Bullen, Kyden Lundquist, Leah Higginbotham, lmx_v3point3, Melody Landrum, Mia, Moira Haney, Paravellex, Ray McKenzie, Rebecca Frederick, Rebekka B., Robin Dauster, Rowan Lorne, snowpossum, wrongsocks, Yo Mama', Zoke Miyama, Al LaBarrie, Ares Crowley, Calamari Matahari, E Kennedy, Kayla, Keelee, Lauga, Lena Klambauer, Lucia Kelly, QuizzicalQuibbler, sydney, Isabel Velasco, Vague Coffeecup, Kaela Woolsey, Morgan Short, Ahgbri Kanatist, WinglessWolf, Cece Henry, Lottie Rose, Charlie, Sonny AcostaIf you'd like to join them, visit www.patreon.com/rustyquill.Edited this week by Nico Vettese, Elizabeth Moffatt, Brock Winstead, Jeffrey Nils Gardner & Alexander J NewallWritten by Jonathan Sims and directed by Alexander J NewallProduced by Lowri Ann DaviesPerformances:- "The Archivist" - Jonathan Sims- "Martin Blackwood" - Alexander J Newall- "Annabelle Cane" - Chioma Nwalioba- "Basira Hussain" - Frank VossSound effects this week by 13F_Panska_Koprivikova_Klara, alienistcog, andersmmg, Andy_Gardner, APallot, Audionautics, aunrea, BarkersPinhead, baryy, BlueDelta, bone666138, BranRainey, cdrk, CGEffex, ChrisReierson, colorsCrimsonTears, CosmicEmbers, crashoverride61088, Darsycho, f-r-a-g-i-l-e, Fission9, FlatHill, freakinbehemoth, giddster, HerbertBoland, Humansounds55, ianoboe, InspectorJ, Jedimichael, juskiddink, JustinBW, Kinoton, kyles, lolamadeus, lzmraul, Microtubule, Native_Cell, Ornitorrinco, PeteBarry, qubodup, Reitanna, RICHERlandTV, rsellick, SamuelGremaud, soundscalpel.com, speedygonzo, straget, SunnySideSound, tcowboy, tim.kahn, tmkappelt, vckhaze, Veridiansunrise, vibe_crc, wilhelmsqueek, xtrgamr, zmobie & previously credited artists via freesound.org.Additional sound effects from Zapsplat.com and from Little Robot Sound Factory via Zapsplat.Check out our merchandise available at https://www.redbubble.com/people/RustyQuill/shop & https://www.teepublic.com/stores/rusty-quill.You can subscribe to this podcast using your podcast software of choice, or by visiting www.rustyquill.com/subscribePlease rate and review on your software of choice, it really helps us to... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the first radio ad you can smell. The new Cinnabon Pull-Apart, only at Wendy's. It's ooey, gooey, and just five bucks for the small coffee all day long. Taxes extra at participating Wendy's until May 5th. Terms and conditions apply. Rusty Quill Presents The Magnus Archives Episode 197 Connected Watch your step. Long way down.

It's fine. Stickiness helps. Come on. Right behind you. Feeling better now, are we? Without those horrible sunny skies and fresh winds. Yes, the colossal web stretching down into an endless pit is a significant improvement. Don't pretend like you're joking.

At least I can think straight now. So we have a significant improvement. Don't pretend like you're joking. At least I can think straight now. So we have a chance to... Don't touch that one! Sorry. It's okay. She already knew I was here. I just...

I hoped we might be able to sneak you in. I'm guessing she's waiting at the centre. Naturally. They both are. Martin is... He's okay. He's scared, but also frustrated. You can't see Annabelle's plan?

I know she has something to tell me, and it's about the hole below us. Her thoughts are all down there, and the threads are so closely woven, I follow them out and in and down and through the strands of web and twisting tape and down and down and down to the chasm and the emptiness that stretches out below. Whoa, whoa, careful, careful. Thanks. There's a, sorry, there's a sort of pull to it. Every time I get a glimpse, it draws me in.

What's down there? I don't know. That makes a change. It's somewhere else. That's all I've got. What? Sir, the tapes. They're from the web, then?

Looks like it. Were they always? Right from the start? As far as I can tell. It's hard to... If I look too closely at them, my own voice, things get... Recursive. Hard to follow. I always assumed they were with the eye.

The whole watching, listening, waiting thing, you know? No. They were always using them to spin their own web. Out of my words. Mine too. True. But what for? Why here? I...

Forget I asked. Can't keep catching you every two minutes. Some point I'll give in to the temptation. Ha ha. Different question then. How do we play this one? You get Martin to safety Then I deal with Annabelle Kane

Right I think we should hear her out first Excuse me? Before you deal with her We should try to get some answers All of this, taking Martin She wants to talk She's had plenty of chances She didn't need to kidnap him.

Sure. But maybe she... What? What's with the look? How are you feeling, Basira? Do you want to look inside my head? See if it's full of spiders? I... No. I'm sorry. I trust you. How are you feeling? Yes, alright. You don't need to make a point. Yes, I do. You're too close to this, and I need to make sure you aren't going to do anything dumb. Situation like this, we can't make rash assumptions. Right?

Right. But if she hurts Martin, all bets are off. If she hurts Martin, I'll be right there with you. He's getting close. As if you could hear him over all this racket. I am sorry you find them irritating. They're a side effect of the very specific way this web has been spun.

I thought you liked his voice. I do when it's his voice. I never like the statements. I always felt... Yeah. Well, you can trust me when I say you'll be hearing his real voice very soon.

I can't see anything. How can you even tell? Vibrations. Oh, yes, web, vibrations, sure. But that's not actually what's happening here, is it? So why don't you just tell me straight? It's not like I'm going to run off. I'd only trip over my own feet and fall in, even if I tried.

It's a good way to visualise these things. Symbols and metaphor. They give easy channels for the great powers to flow through. Ready forms for their energy to manifest. Blah, blah, dream logic, blah. I've had this lecture before. You'd prefer we stay silent until he arrives? I'd hardly call this silence. I'd stop them if I could. Fine. Let's talk, then. All right. Is there anything you want to talk about?

I don't know. It's kind of hard to think of small talk suspended over an endless void. You're perfectly safe as long as you don't do anything foolish and unstick yourself. Yeah, you say that, but it seems like you've got this whole thing prepared for John, and I don't really know whether I should be trying to derail it, or whether that's just what you want me to do, and so doing nothing is actually the right thing, you know? You're a hard person to talk to. Why? the right thing you know and you're a hard person to talk to why because of what i say or because of the assumptions you make about my motives either both i see we could play a game. 20 questions.

Animal, vegetable or mineral? Animal. Does it have eight legs? Yes. Is it a spider? Yes. Oh, look, I win. On edge, are we?

Of course I am. You struck me in a weird interdimensional web and threatened to fill me with spiders. No. I said I had considered filling you with spiders. Yeah, whatever. The point is, there was a time when it was very much your go-to option. And this one time I chose to almost trust you, you've immediately turned around and used me as bait. I haven't broken your trust.

What? The deal was you'd tell me a way to end this without John trapping himself in that tower. Using me to trap him here instead in the most hackneyed metaphor imaginable is not exactly what I had in mind. Perhaps I was wrong about how well suited you are to us. I'm not sure you have the patience for the web. Oh, piss off. You don't need to worry about John. You're literally luring him into a trap. This trap.

This one right here. Please don't do that. Technically, yes. This is a trap. But the only one in actual danger is going to be me. If he chooses to kill me, I can't stop him. Not even here. And you're not bait. You're just...

an invitation. Oh, wonderful. I can't wait to attend the Annabelle Kane show. You know, I did consider it once. Excuse me? A TV show. Reaching out into the homes of millions. Giving the more vulnerable ones a subtle nudge towards terror. Probably something for children. Never went anywhere, of course. These things rarely do. I'm sorry, what are you talking about? You're the one that didn't want to wait in silence.

Yeah, well... Wait. Wait, hang on. Is that him? Yes. I guess you're better with the webs than we thought. Wait, hang on. No, that...

Is that... Basira? He's got Basira with him? Yes. I did wonder if that would be the case. Interesting. And unfortunate for me. That's two heads who'll need to keep cool.

My odds aren't looking good. Odds don't matter if you stack the deck. True. Now settle back. Try to look intentional. What does that mean? They're going to expect a suitable elaborate scene when they arrive. Monsters to blow. I'd hate to disappoint them. Right. So were you thinking something like this? something like this or...

My apologies for the inconvenience, but appearances are everything, Martin. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to change into something more suitable. It is so very important to prime your audience. Annabelle Kane. Hello, John. Macera. Calm down, Martin.

You wouldn't want to slip off, would you? Let him go. Not just yet. Ceaseless watcher. See this scuttling thing. Take it. You know better than I do if I can actually kill him. But we both know that if I drop Martin from here, he's gone. So let's all settle down.

What do you want? To give you, all of you, a way out of this. And you couldn't just, I don't know, tell us? I could, but I needed him to believe me. And for that, I needed him to feel this place. This opening beneath us. Put him down. Very well.

Martin, you okay? You know, we'd probably be more willing to listen if you hadn't kidnapped our friend. I didn't. He came of his own free will. Free will, she says, as we stand in the middle of a fucking web. A fair point. But that's a debate for another time. I simply mean I did not bring him here through false threat

or false pretense. I made an offer and he agreed. Martin, is this true? Told you. We'll talk about it later, once you're safe. He's perfectly safe right now, as long as everyone remains civil. Fine. Speak your piece. Tell us about your way out. As you wish. As you wish. The Great Fears. Do you believe they think the way we do? They don't think at all. They just are.

Almost true. In truth, it depends on the fear. Some exist in an eternal moment. Some make use of memory to reflect and corrupt. But for most, time is simply another thing for them to play with. To consider the future, to plan, is not something they're capable of. But not the web? No. Not the mother of puppets. The spinner of schemes. Hang on. What about the rituals?

Those were plans. No. They were desires, filtered and interpreted by people and the thinking creatures that they spawned. You are well informed, aren't you? Exactly this.

They hungered for the world to step from the shadows and forge themselves on all humanity. And they have. But only two of them could truly conceive of such. Teminus, the End, knows that in such a world they will ultimately consume themselves. And it desires that finality. The Web understands it as well. That eventually a successful ritual would doom them all. Leave them trapped and starving in a used up world with no one to feed on. Hang on, what?

This isn't news to me. We passed a death domain of the end. The victims there do actually die, meaning even though it would take I don't know how long, eventually the end will claim everyone and everything.

It's inevitable. Oh. Okay, right. And what? The pals don't realise? They don't understand things like we do. But the web is all about connections. Unforeseen consequences. Of course it realises.

Of course. And knowing this, knowing for centuries you would eventually be trapped, doomed to starvation, what would you do? Plan an escape. Just so. An escape? To where?

Below us, Viserra. This is not THE world. It is A world. And though it has taken so very long to price it open, the gate to a thousand new realities now stand wide. However, despite this effort, the worlds beyond them remain so far unspoiled by the fierce touch. The powers don't exist there. They're, what, unique to our dimension? Unique? Oh, I don't know about that.

But certainly there are many, many worlds without them. Sorry, we're talking about alternate dimensions now. Seriously. Really, Lucera? Luc alternate dimensions now. Seriously. Really, Lucera? Look around us. This is where you get skeptical. Yeah. Okay, cut me some slack. This is a lot of new and weird information. So the web, it wants to spread, to escape into new realities. Yes, but not alone. Any attempt to separate the fears is ultimately doomed, as you well know. But how? We found the one we believed most likely to bring about their manifestation.

We marked him young, guided his path as best we could, and then we took his voice. No. His and those he walked with. We inscribed them on shining strands of word and meaning and used them to weave a web which cast itself out through the gates and beyond our universe, so that when the fears heard that voice and came in their terrible glory, they might then travel out along it. Or be dragged.

Is she talking about the tapes? Yes. So, how is any of this a solution? Because for the fears to spread into these new worlds, they would need to leave ours. Wouldn't they? If one should leave this place for greener pastures, the rest must follow. Leaving us behind in the process. Freeing our world at the cost of others.

What are you saying? We can pass them our apocalypse. Nothing so extreme. In these new worlds, they would exist as they used to in ours, lurking just beyond the threshold. Until someone is stupid enough to release them there as well. Perhaps. Even the mother cannot see the future.

Only try to shape it. And so they spread through realities like a disease. Perhaps. I won't do it. Possibly. You've seen your other options. What happens to you if they escape?

What happens to us? We've all been touched by them. I would either travel with them, or I would die. I do not know which. My life is only sustained by the web. Most would simply lose whatever power they have been gifted. John would lose much of himself, the parts of him that are the I. But he would survive, and perhaps more importantly, he would remain who he believes himself to be. And you would

end the suffering of all those others who remain here. How would we do it? The Sarah. We need to know, John. It's very simple. Destroy the archives and cut out the eyes of people.

Oh, is that all? Simultaneously. I see. out the eyes of people. Oh, is that all? Simultaneously. I see. Destroy the Panopticon and you release its power. Kill Jonah and you cut the connection between the fears and the world. Do both at the same time

and for just a moment all that power rushes through their only remaining connection with reality. The tapes. And they would be swept along by it, dragged out of our realities and into new ones. And how exactly are we supposed to destroy the archives?

Many years ago, a draft man made an unfortunate and egregious error on certain city planning documents. As a result, an unusually large and dangerous gas main just happened to be constructed directly below the building you knew as the Magnus Institute, in a place where it would be protected by the tunnels of Robert's smirk, unchanged by the world's reformation. You need only ignite it. Ignite it? Indeed. And it just so happens that the perfect tool was once delivered to you as a token of appreciation. Though you really do need to learn to keep better care of it. Somehow, it always seems to slip your mind, doesn't it?

What? John, it's that stupid lighter of yours. Not my what? Oh. Oh. A little anchor of our power so that we and our tapes may follow wherever you go. I see. So,

if I were to throw it away into your little pit... I would advise against that. Oh, would you? John, she still has Martin. Fine. Fine.

That's it, then. Everything you wanted to tell us? It is. Then we're done here. Give us Martin. As you wish. John! Martin! Oh God, I'm sorry fine I didn't realise that

We'll talk later What about her? Good question As far as I can tell There's now nothing to stop me killing you Throwing this lighter away forever Nothing Except your own indecision

I've played my part to its completion You get to decide how I exit the stage I've played my part to its completion. You get to decide how I exit the stage. John? Go. Very well. We shall not see each other again, archivist. But I eagerly await your decision. So, what do we do now?

Let's get out of here. After that, we'll see. Transcription by CastingWords Blackwood and Shilman Walioba as Annabelle Kane. To subscribe, buy merchandise or join our Patreon, visit RustyQuill.com Rate and review us online, tweet us at TheRustyQuill, visit us on Facebook or email us via mail at RustyQuill.com. Join our community on the Discord via the website

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