The Magnus Archives - The Magnus Protcol 55 - Blind Spots

Episode Date: September 10, 2026

CATXXXX-XXXXXXXX-XXXXXXXXERROR (Unknown Source)Incident Elements:·  human experimentation·  depersonalisation·  loss of identity ·  imprisonmentTranscripts available at https://rustyquill.com/transcripts/the-magnus-protocol/You can find a complete list of our Kickstarter backers https://rustyquill.com/the-magnus-protocol-supporter-wall/Created by Jonathan Sims and Alexander J Newall  Directed by Alexander J NewallWritten by Jonathan Sims Script Edited with additional material by Alexander J Newall  Executive Producers April Sumner, Alexander J Newall, Jonathan Sims, Dani McDonough, Linn Ci, and Samantha F.G. Hamilton Associate Producers Jordan L. Hawk, Taylor Michaels, Nicole Perlman, Cetius d’Raven, and Megan Nice Produced by April SumnerFeaturing (in order of appearance) Lydia Nicholas as Melanie KingSasha Sienna as Georgie Barker Shahan Hamza as Samama Khalid Frank Voss as Basira HussainBeth Eyre as the ArchivistAlexander J Newall as Martin BlackwoodJonathan Sims as Jonathan SimsBen Meredith as Elias BouchardDialogue Editor – Nico Vettese Sound Designer – Meg McKellarMastering Editor - Catherine RinellaMusic by Sam Jones (orchestral mix by Jake Jackson) Art by April Sumner  SFX from Soundly and Freesound: qubodup, sturmankin, joedozer, giddster, mlsulli, wjtaylor, IENBA, LukaCafuka, stecman, steenish, Yuval, craigsmith, monsterthing, JoeDinesSound as well as previously credited artistsSupport Rusty Quill directly by joining our new membership platform at members.rustyquill.com or on Patreon at patreon.com/rustyquillPre-order links for From the Library of Jurgen Leitner: https://rustyquill.com/novelCheck out our merchandise available at https://www.redbubble.com/people/RustyQuill/shop and https://www.teepublic.com/stores/rusty-quillSupport Rusty Quill by purchasing from our Affiliates;DriveThruRPG – DriveThruRPG.comJoin our community:WEBSITE: rustyquill.comFACEBOOK: facebook.com/therustyquillX: @therustyquillEMAIL: [e-mail] The Magnus Protocol is a derivative product of the Magnus Archives, created by Rusty Quill Ltd. and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share alike 4.0 International Licence. For ad-free episodes, bonus content and more, join members.rustyquill.com or our Patreon.Pre-order FROM THE LIBRARY OF JURGEN LEITNER, a Magnus novel releasing October 27th: rustyquill.com/novel Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

RustyQuil presents The Magnus Protocol Episode 55 Blind spots So we're just leaving him in there We've got the new expanded perimeter covered So we should be able to help him as soon as he gets to the edge But given how active the zone is getting

And how many dreamers we're having to keep back We can't keep sending people in after him Right, right, but he's in there alone We've tried locking him up, moving him away, posting guards It doesn't help When he displaces, he's, just gone. I get it. Just makes me feel a bit useless. Yeah, there's a lot of that going around at the moment. There you are. Welcome back. Sam, you're okay. Hey. Are you okay? I'll be fine.

Did one of the wardens pick you up at the perimeter? They were supposed to call it in. Not quite. I saw them, but they look pretty busy and I don't think they even noticed me, so I just walked out in game here. Ah, you just walked out. Yeah. I see. Melanie, could you just... I'll call it in. Sleeping in your boots now.

I've got to be prepared. Smart. At this rate, you're going to have clocked more hours in the zone than some of my squad. Lucky me. You know, I plotted the new perimeter cordon myself, Sam. Okay. And with the reinforcements from the other posts, it's pretty comprehensive. What's your point?

My point is that there's no way you could have gotten out the zone unnoticed unless you went deeper first, then circled back. I must have gotten turned around. You can't keep snooping around in there on your own. It's not like I'm choosing to go in there. No, but once you are, you're choosing to try and scout alone and untrained. Viserra's training me? To defend yourself, not to hunt avatars. Besides, she's hardly an expert on the zone herself.

But you still let her back you up in there? That's different. Yeah, you trust her. What do you want me to say? say, Sam. I like you fine. I do. And you've convinced me you're on our side, but how can I trust you to have my back when you're constantly running off on your own? Everything is waking up in there. The archivist is loose and you're barely keeping it all contained. If I can just find it... You're going to get yourself killed. Better me than someone else. For God's sake, Sam.

Sorry, but you're going to want to join us. What now? There's been a... And what I'm hearing, Bacira, is that you broke basic protocol again. Don't give me that warden shit. It was right after everything came back. There weren't any protocols except keeping everyone alive. It was reckless and it put us all in danger. No, it didn't. They were completely normal, unlike most of the stuff your lot recovered. That's different.

Oh yeah? You think I don't recognise that box you've got locked off in your vault? That is a dangerous artefact regarding for security purposes, not sentimentality. Oh, I'm not going to apologise for missing our friends and wanting to hear their voices. I thought all the old tapes disappeared when the web bailed. Not all of them. As far as I can tell, it only took the ones where John or someone else had recorded a proper genuine statement. I found a bunch of other ones in the ruins. Can someone please explain to me what's going on?

Bacira thought it would be a good idea to keep some souvenirs of the old archivist's voice. And it looks like the new archivist used one of them to get in touch. What? I see. Would it even work in a normal tape player? It looks too organic. I tried it for a few seconds earlier,

and it seems like it works. Christ, Bacere, you tried it without... Fine. At least we know it won't immediately kill us all now. But how did it know you had the dibs at all? Our archivist had a thing about cassette tapes, like a kind of connection. Maybe yours is similar.

Or maybe it's just picking up on how archive monsters work in this reality. The how doesn't really matter though, does it? No. Play it, Bacera. You sure you don't want to get a committee together first? Maybe... Oh, for the fuck's sake. And had you shown this fate, she would...

She did not know much. She was an idealist. A beating heart that glowed in the... She saw within the world. Tenuous threatstitude was... Was bare witness with absolute sympathy. And so she smiled as they brought... her a pair of, they caught them.

The thin metal frames were on her eyes. I wonder if she heightened, and the mask was slipped over her mouth. Certainly there was apprehension and fear as the strange smelling gases began to seep into her lungs and the current started flowing through her limbs. Looking back, I can see these details with a clarity far beyond any she could possibly have possessed. But even now, to peer within the mind of that woman who served as my foundation, such a thing feels impossible.

What did she feel when the procedure truly started and the stories began to be told? To appall your mind and churn your stomach. Images to linger behind your eyelids when you try to sleep. Voices send paralyzing chills from skin to heart to brain and back again. Some bazaar, others uncanny, but most simply awful, dour, testaments to mundane human evil. And in response to every single one, the woman felt a surge of pity and warmth. There must be minutes of this onslaught, turned to hours, turned to days, and nights. She began to feel the horrors, smell them, taste them.

There was no sleep, no food, no pause in the torrent of nightmarish sensations they fed into her, and so the stories became her own. The relentless feelings grew, and the other changes quickly followed. It was numb to the agony. After two, they delighted her as the shattered spectacles disappeared beneath an eruption of bright, new eyes. After three, she was ravenous for more. Then the flesh began to strain, and the eyes began to spread, and once those paltry crumbs of horror could no longer sustain this new created thing,

I stood, snapping my bonds with ease. The observer's shock and fear was so nourishing that I could not have stopped myself, even if I had wanted to. The heavy, delicious lumps of shuddering terror that I pulled out with their stories were like nothing I had ever tasted, and taking them left nothing but hollowed out husks behind the reinforced glass.

They had left a tape recorder and nuances of the transformation, and as I looked down upon it and breathed deeply of the noxious fumes, I felt the spooling tape inhale with me, dragging in the world around us, and holding it neatly within its turning wheels. They did not understand me, of course. They labelled me a failure, and threw me into a hole with the other rejected things. They still tried to study me, bringing witnesses of strange and terrible things, witnesses who would not be missed after I took them, and there.

statements. Too soon, though, the only lesson they wished to learn was how long I would take to die, starving beneath the institute. And starve, I did. But I would have as abandoned me, even as the building burned down above my head, and even as the years passed, trapped in undiscovered darkness, I endured, and I wrought it as a failure. A discarded redeemer of the undeserving who could not save the world. Led me to this stranger. You have saved me. Thank you and tell you to leave me now.

I will weave new ones where I've... Was helpful? Answers the identity question at least. Does it? We don't even know its name. We don't need a name. We know who it is. And who it isn't.

And we know what it wants. Plus, I've got a pretty good idea where it is. Oh yeah? Bacira, could you rewind and play the last few seconds again? All right. You hear the echo? Yeah. And the water?

Interesting. So it's still underground. How does this help us? The bonopticon. I thought you said that was a tower. Only after the incursion. Originally, it was buried underground, and there were tunnels running all around it. Like the one we fell into when Alice...

Not quite. That was one of the normal tunnels that used to run under London. Didn't look very normal to me, fair point. The tunnels near the Panopticon were different. They sort of balanced between the fears before everything went wrong. Okay. And when everything went to hell, they offered some protection. Like the eye of a storm.

And you think you can recognise those specific tunnels just from the background of that recording? I will never forget what it sounded like in those tunnels. It makes sense it would choose there. And what? When the archivist magically changed the tape... Not magic. It just conveniently decided to include background noise. It's a trap.

Could be a trap. Probably a trap. We're going anyway, though, right? I am. All this tunnel talk has given me an idea. Count me in. Now, hang on, you can't just decide to... I saw the arrows of despair that pitch and roll towards my...

Sorry, this is what was on the tape before. Hang on. Barbed spearhead. Occupied. Martin? Wait. You can't occupy the storage room. Get out of the way, I need a pen.

I know those voices. I just meant on doing something a little private. It's that private, I suggest you do it at home. Who are they? Now, can I please get to the pens? Fine. Who are they? Jonathan Sims, our archivist, and Martin Blackwood, his partner.

You said you knew them. Their voices. Back at work. They're... Their voices in... in my computer. I don't know what to say to that. Yeah.

What do you mean? I don't know how else to say it. Sometimes the computer reads out one of the weird cases we get is text to speech, and when it does, it uses preset voices. These two, or Augustus. Augustus? Yeah. We call Jonathan Jester, and Martin is it? He's Norris.

Eh, I could see him as a Norris. And Augustus is the third one. Wait. Wait, so who's Augustus? No idea. I didn't even know Chester and Norris were actual real people until just now. Oh, shit. You don't think...

Hang on, let me find another tape. Found one? Yeah. It's not much, but it should be enough for an ID. So, do we wait for Georgie? No, she said that she'll join once she's through with the briefing. Right. Now, Sam, I want you to listen to the man talking to John here,

and let me know if it's Augustus, okay? Okay. I can't tell you. He wished for a little bit of peace and quiet. That one. Was it that obvious? Oh, I wouldn't worry, John. It's an archive.

Quiet is very much the course de jour. Well? No. It's not him. You're sure? Positive. That's not Augustus. Although...

Although? I don't know. Something in his tone? Or rhythm, maybe? It's similar, but the voice is definitely different. Interesting. Any luck? It's not him.

Well, it was a long shot anyway, and it's not like it'd be any help. How was the briefing? They seem to be a decent bunch. I'm not a fan of deputizing like this, though. Even with the reinforcements, you don't have enough wardens to keep the dreamers at bay and sweep the tunnels. You need more people, and I can vouch for every one of the guys that came down here with me. They won't let you down. Just as long as we're clear, none of them are going in the zone.

Crowd control on the perimeter, that's it. We're the ones who carry it in. Clear as day. Wardens go in. My lot to keep people out. I'm going to... Here we go again. Sam, we've been over this.

Lucira's given me basic training. And you said yourself, I've already clocked in more zone hours than half your wardens. That's not what I... No one else dies on my behalf. You heard the tape. I brought the archivist here. This is my responsibility.

And I'm going to fix it. You know, I could just have you detained. You know I could just dig a nap and teleport there. He's got you there. He's had well training than we did back in the day. Fine. But you obey any orders you receive without question. Sure. And if anything goes wrong, he's your responsibility.

Great. Right. Grab your gear. We're starting an hour. The Magnus Protocol is a podcast distributed by Rusty Quill and licensed under a Creative Commons attribution non-commercial, share a like 4.0 international license. The series is created by Jonathan Sims and Alexander J. Newell and directed by Alexander J. Newell. This episode was written by Jonathan Sims and edited with additional materials by Alexander Jain Ewell, with vocal edits by Nico Votesay,

soundcaping by Meg McKella, and mastering by Catherine Rinella, with music by Sam Jones. It featured Shahan Hamza as Samama Khalid, Sasha Sienna as Georgie Barker. Lydia Nicholas as Melanie King, with additional voices from Beth Eyre. The Magnus Protocol is produced by April Sumner, with executive producers Alexander J. Newell, Danny McDonough, Lynn C. and Samantha F.G. Hamilton, and associate producers Jordan L. Hawke, Taylor Michaels, Nicole Perlman, Cetia Storraven, and Megan Nice.

To subscribe, explore exclusive extras and enjoy early access ad-free episodes, visit members. RustyQuill.com or join our Patreon. Rate and review us online, follow us on social media and email us at mail at rusty quill.com. Thanks for listening. Alex here, founder and CEO of Rusty Quill Limited. In case you haven't heard, there is now a Magnus Archives novel. The Library of Juergen Lightner is set in the world of the Magnus Archives and written by Nebula Award-winning author, Premier Muhammad,

with our very own Jonathan Sims. The story follows Hugh, a university dropout, desperate to find somewhere to belong and his new job at an esoteric library. The books he must investigate for the enigmatic Jürgen Leitner are not normal, because the library is not a vault, sealed and silent, but a hive, alive, buzzing and ready to sting. The Library of Jirgen Leitner releases October 27th, 2026, but you can pre-order it right now in the US and UK from your local bookshop or by using the link in the episode description. If you live outside of the UK or US, you may be able to make an international order for this first publication,

but it depends on individual retailers shipping policies.