The Magnus Archives - The Magnus Protocol 43 - Sink or Swim

Episode Date: July 17, 2025

CAT1RB4153-27022010-11062024idolatry (music) -/- compulsion (drowning)Incident Elements:·    drowning·    mind controlTranscripts 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 Jon Ware (for more from this writer, check out https://www.thesiltverses.com/ or https://www.iamineskew.com/) Script Edited with additional material by Jonathan Sims and Alexander J NewallExecutive 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) Billie Hindle as Alice DyerRobert Vernon as Heinrich Unheilmich Nils Schiffmann as Tattoo ArtistLowri Ann Davies as Celia RipleyAlexander J Newall as NorrisAnusia Battersby as Gwen BouchardDialogue Editor – Nico VetteseSound Designer – Meg McKellar Mastering Editor - Catherine RinellaMusic by Sam Jones (orchestral mix by Jake Jackson) Art by April Sumner  SFX from Soundly and Freesound: Anthousai, EpicWizard, kyles, blaukreuz as well as previously credited artists.Check 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.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi everyone, this is Tim Fearon, voice of Augustus in the Magnus Protocol. Today I'm here to advertise Last Dance, a podcast recently launched on the RQ network. Last Dance is a dark fantasy audio drama podcast created by the talented team at Black Abbey Productions. Follow Jericho Rake, a battlefield scavenger traveling in a godless world where your body is your temple. Forced to pick through the front lines of the most brutal war his home has ever known, the find of a lifetime drags him right into the center of the conflict.

Last Dance has a full cast of Northern Irish voices and features guest stars including The Walking Dead's David Morrissey and other great performers. Search for Last Dance wherever you listen to your podcasts or go to www.rustyquill.com for more information. Hi, Billy Hindle here, the voice of Alice in the Magnus Protocol and I'm here to advertise Oracle on Audible. With the release of Oracle 3 Murder at the Grandview, the latest instalment in the hit Audible original series starring Joshua Jackson, Agent Nate Russo is back on the case. When a reunion of friends at an abandoned island hotel ends in tragedy,

he's called in to uncover the truth. Was it an accident or something far more sinister? And what else is lurking in the shadows of the Grandview Hotel? Set on a remote decaying island, Oracle 3 begins with a death and spirals into a haunting mystery full of secrets and suspicion. The hotel is cut off, the guests are on edge and Nate Russo's unique psychic abilities may be the only way to piece together what really happened. As Russo unravels the case, listeners are pulled into a layered psychological thriller that blurs the line between perception and reality. The tension doesn't just come from the mystery, it comes from what Russo sees, what he feels and what he's starting to fear might not be in his control.

Narrated by Joshua Jackson, Oracle 3 is a bone-chilling performance that amplifies the suspense with every word. Jackson doesn't just tell the story, he inhabits it, pulling listeners deep into Russo's fractured world. We think you will like Nate Russo because he is a really exciting character. He has these investigation methods that are unconventional. By touching those close to the missing or deceased he can see the horrific moments before the crimes occur. Unconventional supernatural or psychic-style investigations really make for thrilling and mystery-filled content.

As the story unfolds questions linger, can Nate trust his visions? Are these crimes isolated or part of something much bigger and perhaps most terrifyingly what happens when you go too deep into someone else's mind and can't find your way back? We think the awesome Joshua Jackson will really bring the role to life. Fans of the Magnus Archives will probably enjoy Oracle because each Oracle case is more than a murder. It's a descent into fractured minds and unreliable realities, which sets it apart from many other true crime and thriller type content. At the same time, Oracle isn't just another murder mystery due to how it explores the blurry lines

between sanity and madness, justice and revenge, reality and delusion. The story is grounded in crime but the themes, trauma, redemption and the power of the mind add a deeper psychological layer that keeps you hooked. The latest installment in the Oracle series is here, and it's as gripping, eerie and immersive as ever. Listen now only on Audible. Visit audible.ca or download the Audible app. Rusty Quill presents... The Magnus Protocol Episode 43

Sink or Swim I'll Alt-er-wolf-ta-toey-rung. Means old wolf. Wanna get a tattoo? This skin was hard to craft. I do not wish to tarnish it. Hang on, are you telling me actually nope I figured I asked okay so why do we think the address you found connected to the Friedrich programmer is a tattoo parlor Heinrich what's wrong you are not Colin yeah so This is where I...

Where you what? I was... offended when your Colin called me safe. After I found this location, I intended to lead him down that alley and... Kill him? Nein! But I would make him regret the word safe. And now? Now he is dead.

He is dead and you are here and you do not call me safe, so... I just wish he was not dead. Me too. So is his heart. So now what? Now we ignore the scary alley and instead chase your programmer So was there much in the window to intrigue? maybe There's some old flashes out front and I do not understand how you use this word

Flashes hmm. Oh you see the pictures pinned out front? Like, samples. Those are flashes. I understand. And a lot of them include alchemical symbols. Mercury, sulfur, copper. You appreciate their meaning? Not as much as Celia or Sam. I'm not an expert, but they were all over Colin's journals. How long has this place been here? At least since the war came down, but there are few records.

So it's possible he came here? Yes, if your KS programmer was interested in both tattoos and alchemy. Okay, then I guess we go inside and talk to the owners. I am assuming you mean that I will speak to the owners since you cannot actually speak German. I'm getting better. Yes, thank you. You're welcome. Your programmer's name is Klaus Schweitzer. Is he sure? Yes.

He has owned this place for 40 years. He's been here for 40 years. He's been here for 40 years. He's been here for 40 years. He's been here for 40 years. He's been here for 40 years. He's been here for 40 years. He's been here for 40 years.

He's been here for 40 years. He's been here for 40 years. He's been here for 40 years. He's been here for 40 years. He's been here for 40 years. He's been here for 40 years. He's been here for 40 years. He's been here for 40 years.

He's been here for 40 years. He's been here for 40 years. He's been here for 40 years. He's been here for 40 years. He's been here for 40 years. Your programmer's name is Klaus Schweitzer. Is he sure? Yes. He has owned this place for 40 years. Very proud of his memory. So what happened? Schweitzer was a regular in the 80s. He collected photographs of rare tattoos, especially those of a man named Oscar Jarrett. This inspired the tattoos

you see in the window. Schweitzer even rented a room upstairs for a few months and filled it with computer equipment. Jackpot! Is any of it still there? No, it was taken along with him. What do you mean? I mean that Klaus Schweitzer and all his computer equipment were taken from here by the Stasi. Where the heck is Oscar Jarrett? What the heck is Oscar Jarrett? Okay, well it's better than nothing. I said it's better than nothing! What? Of course I'm gonna let her know.

Because she's worried about you? Okay, well I'm not going to say that. Because she's worried about you? Okay, well, I'm not going to say that. No, sorry. Sorry what? I can't hear you. The signal's... Alice? Alice? Oh 27 oh to 2010 collection service to informatic detras technology as a TT article transcription PDF to the on training a vacuum at to do you think ca 2731 slash one three of series 63159932

collector david collings soco 98549 green path england northwest long-term evidence storage give us the file ah just uh getting my notes together okay we are set this This is Prim Roswell. It is 21st February 2010. Interview with Monique Bacchaiocco in her Paris apartment. Thank you so much for having me, Mrs. Bacchaiocco. B. That's fine. R. So, let's get to it. From a childhood in Abidjan to sold out performances in La Scala, Sydney and Vienna,

Miss Bacchieo-Cocoud should surely be ranked as one of the most extraordinary contemporary sopranos and opera stars, often compared to the great Maria Callas. B, I wonder, can you even begin to comprehend, Miss Roswell, how endlessly and persistently tiresome it is to sit and listen to every journalist begin by listing out your life's work and then end with, Oh, and on her best day, she might even have been as good as Maria Callas? R. Oh, no, I didn't mean B. I used to speak to real journalists, real opera historians.

Now I talk to children who don't do their research and who want nothing more than a quick sound bite. R. All right. Well, for contemporary comparisons, I'd say the only sufficient ones are Netrebko, obviously, Bonnie, Walsam, and maybe Carrington on a good day. B.

How old are you? R. 25. B. And you really do love opera. It's an uncommon thing for someone your age. R. 25. B. And you really do love opera? It's an uncommon thing for someone your age. R. When I was nine, my dad took me to see Medea at the Eno. Your Medea. B. Ah, I remember that one. R. My mother thought I'd be bored senseless, but I'll never forget it. The

temple going up in flames, Medea with her knife covered in her son's blood. B. We had far too little time between exits and entrances, so they had a bucket of cornstarch and red dye to toss over me before I stumbled back on stage. Sopranas are supposed to be the worst divas, but you don't see what we have to endure. R. It was astonishing. The madness, the fury, I could hear the truth in your voice, I believed every word. B. But was I as good as Kalas? Prim, wasn't it? What do you want to ask me, Prim? R. Why did you stop? B. Ah, and now we're back to the same old dirge. How many times do you think I have heard that question? R. But you never answered it. July, 1998, your voice was the best it had ever been. You were

at the height of your career. The accident is a matter of public record. We were sailing down the Adriatic coast. There was a storm and the yacht capsized halfway between Bari and Brindisi. No. No. No. No. Your injuries were minor and you were in good spirit.

Then you suddenly cancelled your autumn season at La Scala in the middle of August. They lost six figures in refunded tickets and you never even explained yourself. You just left. B. And the years passed and soon enough I was forgotten. R. Not by me. B. I can tell you what happened, but I doubt you will appreciate hearing it. R. Tell me. B. People tell me it is frightening.

R. Please. B. Do you know the meaning behind the term D.V.A.? R. One who died and became divine. B. Exactly so. Could you call me Diva, Prim? R. Yes. Diva. B. Good. It was the accident. I didn't care for yotting really, but when a man is set on comparing the sparkle of your eyes to the Adriatic, what can one do but accept? Pietro and I sailed down the Italian coast one fine summer weekend and he poured me glass after glass of champagne without ever even losing a knot. We got to Bari and heard there was a storm coming and he was unconcerned. We'll sail through it, he said.

We've got dinner booked in Gallipoli and you don't want to miss it. I remember saying I trusted him. I also remember when the waves grew choppier and the sky grew dark and he stared up at the sail and I knew I'd been misled. I remember when we went over Pietro screaming my name and then... nothing. When I came to I was bobbing in my life jacket in the upturned yachts cabin. The water was stained with curls of blood, my blood, and the water filled the room up to my neck. I was panicking, of course, breathing hard.

There was a pocket of air, perhaps enough for me across the length of the cabin, but who could really say? I could hear the storm lashing against the hull and Pietro was gone and even if I removed my life jacket and swam down and out of the cabin, I had nowhere to go but the water. And so I screamed. And I screamed. I pleaded for someone to come and find me over and over but of course there was nobody to hear me. Or so I thought. It was some time after the first hour, perhaps after the second, that the yacht seemed to suddenly lurch back and forth as if something had taken hold of it. For a moment I even held the foolish hope of a rescue boat. But then it went still,

and then there was a movement in the dark water all around me. A sudden current. Then something brushed against my leg. It was cold and soft. And it trailed along my calf for perhaps a full second before passing me by. Then it came from the opposite direction and this time as it passed me there was the same clammyness and then a sudden sharpness as though I had been bitten or scratched. Then an absurd, horrible and stupid thought came upon me.

It's a hand. A cold, grey hand with very long fingers, reaching up to me from below. As soon as I had that thought, terror flared in me, and I lashed out with my foot as hard as I could, and that was when the thing in the water snatched at my ankle and dragged me downwards into the dark. It was only for a moment, but for that moment there was no cabin at all, and only a dark and endless sea filled with fleshy white shapes, hundreds of horrid little things winnowing up towards me from the void. And then I broke the surface once more, screaming and flailing amidst the swirling white currents and I knew that this was the place where

I would die. R. What did you do, Diva? B. I sang. I don't remember what. Not opera. Maybe lullabies, children's songs. Something you would sing to gentle a wild animal. I sang until I was hoarse and whilst I did the currents kept swirling but nothing grabbed me. So I kept singing, hour after hour like Scheherazade singing to be spared. When I woke up, I heard the muffled whir of the helicopter blades high above me. I was relieved of course, but right before the Coast Guard descended into the yacht, I thought I heard something else. A chorus of pounding wet flesh against the sunken hull,

over and over and over, rising and rising, and then just as suddenly... silent. Something like beating wings or a thousand hands clapping all at once then stilled. Then a long silence. R. And that's why you stopped singing? That experience? B.

No. I was living alone, back in Milan, waiting for the new season to start. I'd already written my experience off as a bad dream. Hysteria. The doctors had told me I needed to preserve my voice so no singing, no speaking. I'd been living in silence for weeks. Meanwhile the team at La Scala were growing nervous about their big investment for the season, lest she had lost her mind, or worse, her voice. So they summoned

me there before two senior producers sat stiffly with their arms crossed in the stalls and a kindly old pianist, and they asked me to sing. The house lights went down and suddenly I was swimming in that darkness again, alone in the open sea, and I knew what I needed to sing for them. But this time it was with strength, with passion and playfulness and I knew that though my power had changed it had not left me. I was filled with such joy until I realized that the piano was not playing. There was a high-pitched whine of building pressure and the producers were writhing in their seats, helplessly choking

and gurgling as frothy black water trailed out of their mouths and nostrils. Then all at once, they were bursting open, their skin tearing along its seams, their open eyes pressed from their sockets by sluicing water. The pianist was the same, his throat bulging as a fresh torrent of seawater spilled forth, and then long grey fingers questing from inside the water, forcing the jaw wider and wider from the inside before halting and then beginning to applaud. The bodies were whole again once the ambulances arrived. I was told they had all had strokes, though no one had any explanation for how they happened simultaneously, nor for the brine which now stained the stalls and piano. It was

La Scala that decided to cancel the season, and with it I faded into retirement. The funny thing was though, I didn't mind. Once you've found an audience that will tear itself through water and flesh just to applaud you, anything else seems so muted and small by comparison. No, not small, repulsive. An audience of dull, vapid faces hiding in the dark, patting their gout-ridden palms against each other in a mockery of appreciation. How could I ever perform for them again? But we've got away from your question, Prim. Why did you stop singing?

That was it, wasn't it? R. Yes, Diva. B. I didn't. I just play to a different audience now, one who gives their reviews only to me. An autician, of course, when they are found. I wonder, would you be found, Prim? R. I think I should go now, D.Va. B. Are you sure, Prim?

You could stay. You could stay and listen to the truth in my voice once more. Hear me sing it one last time. R. Diva. Please. Data corrupted. Transcription ends. Christ, I hate the white ones. Oh, Gwen, I... Sorry Celia, I'm in a bit of a rush.

I got a call from Alice. And? Sounds like she's making some progress. Nothing that can't wait till tomorrow night though. I'm not in tomorrow, I have a meeting. Just email me a report and I'll read it en route. A report? Yes, thank you.

One page will be fine. You'll be okay on your own tomorrow, I trust. Well... Great! See you in a couple of days. The Magnus Protocol is a podcast distributed by Rusty Quill and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial share alike 4.0 international license. The series is created by Jonathan Sims and Alexander Jane Ewell and directed by Alexander Jane Ewell.

This episode was written by John Ware and edited with additional materials by Jonathan Sims and Alexander Janeuil, with vocal edits by Nico Vitesse, soundscaping by Meg McKellar and mastering by Catherine Rinella, with music by Sam Jones. It featured Billy Hindle as Alice Dyer, Anuja Battersby as Gwen Bouchard, Laurie Ann Davis as Celia Ripley, with additional voices from Alexander Jane Ewell. The Magnus Protocol is produced by April Sumner, with executive producers Alexander Jane Ewell, Danny McDonough, Lynn C and Samantha F.G. Hamilton, and associate producers Jordan L. Hawke, Taylor Michaels, Nicole Perlman, C.T.S. DeRaven and Megan Nice.

To subscribe, view associated materials or join our Patreon, visit RustyQuill.com. Rate and review us online, tweet us at The Rusty Quill, visit us on Facebook or email us at mail at RustyQuill.com. Thanks for listening. Hi, Billy Hindle here, the voice of Alice in the Magnus Protocol, and I'm here to advertise Oracle on Audible. With the release of Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest instalment in the hit Audible original series starring Joshua Jackson, Agent Nate Russo is back on the case. When a reunion of friends at an abandoned island hotel ends in tragedy, he's called in to uncover the truth. Was it an accident? Or something far more sinister?

And what else is lurking in the shadows of the Grandview Hotel? Set on a remote decaying island, Oracle 3 begins with a death and spirals into a haunting mystery full of secrets and suspicion. The hotel is cut off, the guests are on edge, and Nate Russo's unique psychic abilities may be the only way to piece together what really happened. As Russo unravels the case, listeners are pulled into a layered psychological thriller that blurs the line between perception and reality. The tension doesn't just come from the mystery,

it comes from what Russo sees, what he feels, and what he's starting to fear might not be in his control. Narrated by Joshua Jackson, Oracle 3 is a bone-chilling performance that amplifies the suspense with every word. Jackson doesn't just tell the story, he inhabits it, pulling listeners deep into Russo's fractured world. We think you will like Nate Russo because he is a really exciting character. He has these investigation methods that are unconventional. By touching those close to the missing or deceased, he can see the horrific moments before the crimes occur.

Unconventional supernatural or psychic style investigations really make for thrilling and mystery filled content. As the story unfolds, questions linger. Can Nate trust his visions? Are these crimes isolated or part of something much bigger? And perhaps most terrifyingly, what happens when you go too deep into someone else's mind and can't find your way back?

We think the awesome Joshua Jackson will really bring the role to life. Fans of the Magnus Archives will probably enjoy Oracle because each Oracle case is more than a murder, it's a descent into fractured minds and unreliable realities which sets it apart from many other true crime and thriller type content. At the same time Oracle isn't just another murder mystery due to how it explores the blurry lines between sanity and madness, justice and revenge, reality and delusion. The story is grounded in crime but the themes, trauma, redemption and the power of the mind add a deeper psychological layer that keeps you hooked.

The latest installment in the Oracle series is here and it's as gripping, eerie and immersive as ever. Listen now only on Audible. Visit audible.ca or download the Audible app. Visit audible.ca or download the Audible app. podcast created by the talented team at Black Abbey Productions. Follow Jericho Rake, a battlefield scavenger traveling in a godless world where your body is your temple. Forced to pick through the front lines of the most brutal war his home has ever known, the find of a lifetime drags him right into the center of the conflict. Last Dance has a full cast of Northern Irish voices and features guest stars including The Walking Dead's David Morrissey and other great performers.

Search for Last Dance wherever you listen to your podcasts or go to www.rustyquill.com for more information.