The Magnus Archives - MAG 199 - Seeing it Through

Episode Date: March 18, 2021

Case ########-39Discussion on next steps and consequences, recorded in the tunnels.Content warnings:ArgumentsGuilt & self-recriminationSmokingStrong languageDiscussions of: altered reality, death & self-sacrifice, mass suffering & mass deathMentions of: violence & murder, mental deterioration, manipulation, trauma, explosionsSFX: cryingTranscripts:PDF - https://cutt.ly/rz6dkrjDOC - https://cutt.ly/fz6db20Thanks to this week's Patrons: Vigdís Heiðbrá Guðmundsdóttir, Rachael, SomeVariationOfGay, KJ, Grayson Genter, Kaela Roy, Hunter Harder, Jorge García, Emily Krichmar, Dyon Puts, i think ur pretty cool, Autumn Seel-Baker, Clara Rigual Munoz rainy j, potpourri, Chloe, Μυρτώ Απλαντή, Brian Sullivan, Варя Бородина, Iwona Gajór, & Ásgerður ÓskIf 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 NewallSensitivity consultation by Alexander Linde NielsenProduced by Lowri Ann DaviesPerformances:- "The Archivist" - Jonathan Sims- "Martin Blackwood" - Alexander J Newall- "Basira Hussain" - Frank Voss- "Melanie King" - Lydia Nicholas- "Georgie Barker" - Sasha SiennaSound effects this week by altfuture, daboy291, DrDufus, gaby7129, gggtrew, JK129645, kyles, lartti, nintendoto, quetzalcontla, Sheyvan, sityu, soundhunterjulie, SpliceSound, steinhyrningur, theshuggie, thewestwind, tmkappelt, unkleceeg, vibe_crc, theshuggie & previously credited artists via freesound.org.Additional sound effects from https://www.zapsplat.com.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 spread the podcast to new listeners, so share the fear.Join our community:WEBSITE: rustyquill.comFACEBOOK: facebook.com/therustyquillTWITTER: @therustyquillREDDIT: reddit.com/r/RustyQuillEMAIL: [e-mail] Magnus Archives is a podcast distributed by Rusty Quill Ltd. and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Sharealike 4.0 International Licence Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Rusty Quill presents The Magnus Archives Episode 199 Seeing It Through 199 seeing it through. So... Yeah? Yeah. Anyone want another cup of tea? Well, I say tea, it's...

We can't keep putting it off. We need to talk about this. About what we're going to do. You mean what John's going to do? No. If we're doing this, it's going to take all of us. You say if. It's basically our only option, right?

No, it's not. So we're seriously holding up let John become God as a legitimate choice here? We can't just dismiss it. Yes, we can. Seconded. Thank you. We can't just dismiss it. Yes, we can. Second it. Thank you. We still have to discuss it.

Let's try to lay this out properly. What are our actual options here? As far as I can see, there are three. Okay. One, we follow Annabelle's plan. We destroy the Panopticon, kill Elias. Jonah. Whatever.

Magnus. We kill him and release the fears into... how many other realities? She said thousands, but I don't think she actually knows. John? Not something I can see, I'm afraid. But is it all other realities, or just some of them? Does it matter? I mean, maybe.

If there are infinite worlds out there, then thousands isn't even a drop in the bucket, cosmically speaking. Cosmically speaking. You know what I mean. Still more than one, though, isn't it? Which is what we're discussing. So again,

option one is to kill Jonah Magnus and release the fears. Save the world, but Magnus and release the fears. Save the world, but doom other realities to the fears. We don't know they'll be doomed. Spread the fears to other realities. Option two is John takes over from Magnus, keeps the powers contained here with us, and tries his best to make the place a little more tolerable until the end. And we lose him.

Martin. Oh, John, I'm sorry, but if one world still matters in an infinite spread of dimensions, then one person does too. I think the issue is he matters a bit too much. The point is you don't have a responsibility to sacrifice yourself just to make everyone else's lives a bit easier. I've already made them a hell of a lot harder. Then we should all sacrifice ourselves because everyone in this room has some responsibility for it. Hey, Georgie didn't do anything. No, Melanie, I

didn't. Maybe I should have. I kept out of it even when I got a pretty good idea of what was going on towards the end. But I should have known better. Hiding never helps. It keeps you alive. For a while.

But we couldn't actually do anything, could we? Couldn't save anyone. Okay, fine. Blame for everyone. But the hard fact is, John's the only one who can take over the Panopticon. Would you stop just putting everything on him? Which brings us to our third option. Which is? Do nothing.

We adapt to the new world and just wait for it to finally end. Leaving everyone to just suffer until the powers burn out. You said yourself that even if you did take over, you couldn't stop the suffering. If we keep it all trapped here, it's going to be hell either way. It's alright for us, though, isn't it? We're not the ones trapped in our worst nightmares. What's your point? Do we actually have the right to make this decision?

The five of us? For the whole world, or for maybe infinite worlds we know nothing about? No, of course we don't. But we're the ones here. And I doubt there's anyone else out there who's in a better position to decide. There isn't. So we're the ones that have to make the call and we need to acknowledge that doing nothing is still on the table as an option.

We could ask them. Who? The people trapped in the domains. The ones actually doing the suffering. Why don't we see what they want? Because I already know. They want it to stop. But to try and explain it all to them,

give them enough context for them to make an actual meaningful choice, I don't think it's possible while they're still trapped. They're too much a part of their domains. So we bring them out. You've rescued people before. We can do it again. True. Sure, but we can't bring everyone out. So then all we're actually doing is deciding who makes the call with even less understanding than us. Right. It's kind of shitty to bring them out just to ask them if they're willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. Shittier than just making the decision for them.

If the decision is to do it, maybe they'd be grateful we saved them the guilt. If it's just a matter of guilt, then I'll take it right now. I'd rather live the rest of my life lying awake, wondering if I made the right choice, over lying awake listening to the screams of everyone on earth being

tortured. What, so it's better for a thousand times more people to scream as long as we can't hear them? No. Because Annabelle said it wouldn't be like that. Wherever they go, it'll be like it was here before, with the powers just lurking on the edges. And our world survived like that for, what, all of history?

Sure, it's not great, but it's not like those other realities weren't a bad stuff happening already. We all lived with monsters in the shadows, and we just got on with it. Yeah, until we didn't. Until the ritual kicked off. What's to stop the same thing happening in these other worlds? It took, like, millennia

of failed rituals before this happened. That means there has to be a chance that it won't happen at all, right? Maybe. And if it does happen, it will be because of the actions of the people in those other dimensions. Just like here, it was because of...

Me. Because of us. No. My point is that we can't take responsibility for the hypothetical actions of hypothetical people in all these other universes. Fundamentally, the fears travelling to these other places isn't a death sentence. And even if the worst happens, they might just find themselves in exactly the same situation as us.

Deciding whether to pass it all along again. Like the worst chain letter ever? Exactly. Probably have their own panopticon. Their own archivists. Their own Martin. If they're unlucky. But the point is, we have a chance to stop all that.

We don't have to post the letter. We can keep them contained and even eventually destroy them. Can we? What do you mean? Well, did Annabelle say for certain that this dimension is where they were, um, born, I guess? No. No, the eye can't see its own creation, so... I don't actually know how they came to be.

Perhaps we can't know. So, how can we be sure they didn't come through to our reality in exactly this way? Maybe we're just another link in a long chain of these things, spreading from one dimension to the other, growing at the edges, manifesting, and then escaping to somewhere new. Like weeds. Or a fungus. Sure, but even if that was true, it doesn't change the situation.

Yes, it does. If it's a choice between stopping the fears completely, destroying them once and for all, here and now, or just being one universe they don't escape among potentially infinite ones where they do, those are very different scenarios. They are to me, at least. We don't know. And even if we hunted Annabelle down And squeezed more information out of her

I don't think she knows either We simply don't have that information And we can't just arbitrarily decide What's true Just because it makes the choice easier for us And you can't just arbitrarily decide it isn't Because you want a better reason to martyr yourself That's not what's happening

Isn't it? Either way, it's not an unreasonable conclusion. It's just as likely as this dimension being where they were born. It's more likely, even. Which means we'd be condemning everyone for no reason. Hardly no reason. Let's be honest for a second, you just want an excuse to stick a knife in Jonah Magnus. John, no. He's got a point. I want that smug bastard dead. And if I got a chance to do it myself, you can bet I would do it in a heartbeat. But if you think that's all I care about here, then frankly you can fuck off out of my tunnels on your high horse.

I can't just hang around and watch the whole world linger like this on the off chance that it might do some small good somewhere else. Maybe it doesn't have to linger. You want to think very hard about your next words. I'm just saying, if I took my place in the Panopticon, I'd hoped I could make it easier for everyone, but... Maybe I could just make it faster. Shuffle people towards the end.

Accelerate things. Would the eye even let you do that? It's like Annabelle said, it doesn't really do foresight. As long as it was fed, I doubt it would even know until it was too late. And the web couldn't touch me once I was in control. John, you're talking about killing the whole world. You're the one who wanted to cover every option. We need to admit that ending it quickly might be a kindness.

The truth is, any choice we make is going to lead to an atrocity of one sort or another. At least this way we know the suffering ends. No. No, I'm not just going to stand here and watch you try to justify murdering humanity. How is it different from just letting it happen on its own? Because it is. It's not an option. End of discussion. Basira, I just can't accept it's really that hopeless. There's got to be a chance that these other universes will figure something out that we didn't. They'll have as much of a chance as we did.

More, maybe. The fear's had a long time to get a foothold in our world. Assuming time even works the same in different dimensions. We've got to hope. Hope that our actions don't destroy countless other worlds. It's better than the certainty that they'll destroy this one. Sounds like you've all decided then. Seems that way.

Shall we vote on it or something? No need. Seems pretty much unanimous at this point. We take out the Panopticon and just hope for the best. Yeah. Fine. I'm going for a cigarette. You do know there's an indoor smoking van, right?

They'll make an exception for me. Besides, I can't really think down there. That's not true. I can. It's just... exhausting. Puts me in a foul mood. It's better up here. Close to the eye. Thoughts come quicker. If it's any consolation, you seemed pretty on the ball earlier. It isn't really, but thank you. Can I have a cigarette?

Sure. I thought you quit. I did. For my health. But it's already the apocalypse, so... I'll need a light too. Yeah. I tried to avoid it in the tunnels when we had our... when the others were here.

Nice lighter. Hmm? You didn't want to tarnish the image of the prophets? Just didn't think they wanted one of their revered leaders puffing away in the corner. Hmm. Saw a bishop smoking once when I was a kid. Full Easter regalia and all. Really weirded me out.

I should probably quit myself then. Then you won't mind if I hang on to this? Hmm. I'm sorry. I know you hate what we're doing. I hate all the options. I just... It's all my fault, you know? What because you weren't able to outsmart the literal embodiment of manipulation and scheming? We all make bad choices, John. It's not your fault some eldritch horror decided yours were going to affect the whole world. They were still my choices.

Yeah. And you live with them. Or you don't. That's all there is, really. Anyway, looks like your next appointment's here. Thanks for the smoke. Georgie.

Yeah? I, um... I'm glad you and Melanie have each other through all this. Thanks. And I'm glad you've got him. He's all yours. Thanks. You alright?

Yeah. Sorry I got so heated in there. Don't be. I'd have been more worried if you were super calm about it. Yeah. I'd understand if you hate me right now. What? No.

No, Martin, I love you. I always will. And I know you love me too. I mean... That's it, isn't it? That's the real core of it. You want to save me. I want you to save yourself.

Sometimes... I imagine if none of this had happened. If we'd just met. Been together without all of this. Me too. But we wouldn't have, would we? It's been together, I mean. What do you mean? Well, we had that, didn't we?

Almost a year of just working a normal job together. And you hated me. I didn't hate you. No, no, no, no. I listened to those tapes. At one point you explicitly said you'd be fine with me being chopped up by that old jigsaw lady. Oh, God, Angela. She's still about,

you know, lording it over a nasty little flesh domain. Anyway, I didn't explicitly say it. I implied it. Face it, John, it took almost two years of crisis and trauma to even make us compatible. And that sucks. But here we are.

And I don't want it to be for nothing. I won't let it. That's very sweet of you, Martin. Sort of. Thank you. Wherever you go, I go. That's it. You promised to let me go if I had to. And you promised not to go if there was any other choice. And there is. So that's the deal. That's the deal. I guess that's why it really bothers me, you know. I try, but I can't actually imagine ever making a decision that I knew meant losing you.

And it... It hurts to know you can. You didn't damn the world, Martin. We all... No, we all... Nothing. I'm the one who caused all of this. That's just the truth of it. I'm the one whose whole life has been nothing but one long set-up to this.

John. You didn't speak the words. You didn't feel them move through you, vomiting out of you like... I did this. It's my fault. And I don't want... I can't let anyone else feel that.

That helpless, enormous guilt. Ever. Hey, hey, hey, hey. Come here. Come here. We're going to fix it. No. We're just going to pass it on. You don't know that.

Come on. The others will be waiting. I'm not sure. They said they were... Oh, hey. There you are. I was getting worried. We were scouting. I was showing Basira where we think the gas mainline is. And?

Not good. You know those eye things? The old archivists? Yeah. I think they know something's up. Place is crawling with them. It's like they're looking for something. Or patrolling.

That's why the stairs are unguarded. It looks that way. So what's the plan? I reckon me and Georgie go for the main line and hopefully they won't notice us. I'll need a torch. They might notice that. I'll give a diversion. I'll try and draw them off. And if

they see Georgie's torch, we just go to plan B. She becomes another distraction and I go solo. I don't like the thought of you going on your own. And I don't like the thought of you being chased by manky old archivists. But there it is. Okay, so what are you going to do when you find it? We've got some old tools.

I guess we just mess with it until we smell gas and then back off, set something burning and leg it. Can't be that hard to break a valve. John, you're sure about this whole gas main thing? It just seems, I don't know, really mundane. It's what Annabelle said. And she wasn't lying. At least, she didn't think she was. Well, it's a bit late for second guessing.

How big is the explosion going to be? Big enough. Honestly, I'm kind of hoping there's some sort of supernatural reason it will channel up into the tower, otherwise it's going to be bad news down here. Don't get yourselves hurt. Well, we'll do what we can, but this is it. Whatever it takes, right? If there's a price we pay it, no hesitations. And it's hardly going to be a picnic for you either. You're going up that tower to kill Elias, and if we muck up the timing, you'll be up there when it blows. John can't do it.

What? Sure he can. Just magic laser eyes zap him or whatever, same as with all the others. Like he did to Helen. Listen, Melanie... It's fine. If we all get out of this, we can talk it through.

And if not, well, it doesn't really matter, does it? I suppose not. You're not listening. I mean, if he kills Jonah, then knowing Arlok, he's just going to end up taking his place in the Panopticon, isn't he? Good point. He can come up

with me, but when it actually comes to Jonah... You'll have to be the one to do it. Yeah. Martin, I don't... Have you got this? We can trade if you don't think you can do it. No, I can do it. Make sure it hurts.

Oh, I will. Good enough for me. Me too. Okay. Sounds like we've got something like a plan. Me too. Okay. Sounds like we've got something like a plan. Makes a nice change. It does, doesn't it?

So, when do we actually do it? First thing tomorrow. That'll give us time to prep and rest. Sounds good to me. Right. Um, hey, John. Can you hang on a sec? Yeah?

I just mean, um... If we don't make it out of this, I wanted to say thanks. For coming back for me. For what I did. Who I was. I... Thanks. I'm sorry for all of this.

We've all got regrets. But we can't undo what's done. All we can do is try and do something worthwhile with the time we've got left. Yeah. The Magnus Archives is a podcast distributed by Rusty Quill To be continued... It featured Jonathan Sims as The Archivist, Alexander J. Newell as Martin Blackwood, Frank Voss as Basira Hussain, Lydia Nicholas as Melanie King, and Sasha Sienna as Georgie Barker.

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 mailRustyQuill, visit us on Facebook or email us via mail at rustyquill.com. Join our community on the Discord via the website or on Reddit at r slash The Magnus Archives. Thanks for listening. Hi everyone, Alex here. I'd just like to take a moment to thank some of our patrons. Thank you all. We really appreciate your support. If you'd like to join them, go to www.patreon.com forward slash Rusty Quill and take a look at our rewards.

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