The Magnus Protocol 18 – Solo Work
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Hi folks, Billy Hindle here, the voice of Alice Dyer in The Magnus Protocol. Today I just wanted to take some time to run you through some of the exciting Magnus merchandise, as well as affiliate links, a brand new way to support the show. You can find affiliate links in the description of all new episodes. If you are based in the UK, be sure to check out Phantom Peak, a unique, immersive, open world adventure in London. Use the link in the show notes or code RUSTY to get 15% off tickets.

perfect for fans of escape rooms. Next up, be sure to check out our bespoke merchandise from our partners, including exclusive perfume scents inspired by John and Martin and ex-Altiora. Find out more by going to www.rustyquill.com forward slash S-B-P. Find Magnus and Rusty Quill themed TTRPG accessories, including dice trays, dice towers, and beautiful coasters from Harpscore by going to harpscore.com forward slash rusty dash quill.

See the Magnus Archives polyhedral die set from Dice Dungeon, including an exclusive D16 featuring icons representing the fears. Visit thedicedungeon.co.uk forward slash collections forward slash rusty dash quill to find out more. There are also new designs available on our official merchandise stores for t-shirts,

Stickers, posters and more. Check the links in the description or go to www.rustyquill.com forward slash support. Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy the show.

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Hi everyone, it's Anusha here, voice of Gwen in The Magnus Protocol. Today I'm here to advertise a very exciting back-hit crowdfund that we will be using to raise funds for the Magnus Protocol Mystery Board Game. We are working with the amazing and talented team from Indie Boards and Cards, the team behind some other extremely successful board games such as The Resistance, Coup, The Sherlock Files and

and Flashpoint Fire Rescue. The Magnus Protocol Mysteries will be an easy-to-learn puzzle game, bringing you a series of engaging cases to solve and supernatural problems to resolve. The game will also feature brand new audio recordings from the cast of The Magnus Protocol. For more information, or to sign up to be notified of the launch of the crowdfund,

go to www.rustyquill.com forward slash board game, where you can sign up for email updates. Or, for one dollar, you can also sign up for an early backer reward. This episode is dedicated to John C. Walsley, in honour of his daughter, Vivian C. Walsley. She of the beloved carrot, the hungry sandwich, and the secret twelve. Rusty Quill presents The Magnus Protocol Episode 18 Solo Work

Teddy? Hey! Teddy! Hey Alice! Hi! I, er, didn't recognise you. Way to make a girl feel wanted! Ow! Sorry, not what I meant. It's fine.

You do know that.

You've played it all cool during the leaving party, but you're actually stalking him all hot and heavy with whips and chains and... I'll just let you go ahead and finish, shall I? Best not. I might be a few minutes. God, I've forgotten what it's like being talked at by you. That's my brand, baby. Irritating, yet faintly erotic. So anyway, why are you here?

Oh, I can speak now. I'll allow it. If you must know, I had an interview. I knew you couldn't make it without my delicious charms. You do realise there are other businesses in Royal Mint Court? It's not just the creepy basement nightmare factory. Huh. I never considered that. Well, there you go. How are you doing? I've... I've been better.

I've some savings though, I'll get by. Be cool if you got this job right? You working here by day and me lurking in the night. Hey, we could even go for drinks. A little snifter to start your day off right? Sure, maybe.

I'll have to keep you posted about the interview. You have to keep me posted about everything. I never see you anymore. Yeah, sorry. We'll go out for drinks. You, me, Sam and Celia. Celia? Oh, you'll love her, mate. She's really weird, but like, in a hot way. She'll make you forget all about your embarrassing obsession with Sam. But how could I ever forget my one and only Alice-assigned true love? Because I'll order you two.

I have missed you. Then text me back, you loser! I will! Liar! Anyway, I should get going. Don't want to hold you up. Especially if Lena's in. Yeah, some things never change. I'll see you around, Alice. Not if I stalk you first! Look after yourself, Teddy. Hey, Lena. Hello. Don't see you in here often. I forgot to fill my furlough this evening. Right.

You seem unsettled. Have you had a difficult case? No. I mean, yeah, but no more than normal. Yet you seem quite nervous. Oh, well, I mean, if I'm being honest, you're my boss, but I've hardly ever actually spoken to you still. Why would I need to talk to you? Your work is satisfactory. Unless you have a work-related issue I could assist you with? Um, no. Nothing like that.

Then consider my silence a compliment, if you like. Right. Oh, I meant to ask, is Celia going to be in today? No. Oh. Can I ask why? You may. She called in with a childcare emergency. Good. I hope Jack's okay. Who's that? Celia's kid. Oh, is that his name? Yeah. No kids of your own? No. No. That makes sense.

I hope you enjoyed our talk. Let me know if you have any problems. Report of medical examiner's investigation for inquest into the death of Violet Parker. Autopsy and examination performed by Dr. S. Rashid. Dissident, Violet Abigail Parker. Sex, female. Age, 41. Ethnicity, white, British. Occupation, teacher.

Home address 74 Willow Tree Close Ikenham Greater London Type of death Found at scene Notification by London Metropolitan Police Investigating agency as above Situation of body Clothed in the middle of Milton Court Open Space Estimated time of death

0300 GMT, 20, 03, 20, 24.

Rigor, yes. Eyes, gray. Hair, brown. Height, 172 centimeters. Weight, 31 kilograms. Marks and wounds, extreme malnutrition. Tissue damage on both feet and stress fracture on left ankle. Probable cause of death, starvation, dehydration, exposure. Manner of death, unknown.

Examiner's comments: "Hopefully no one will ever read this. God, I hope she stays silent, and if she does, then I will burn these notes so they can't be used as evidence to strip me of my position. But if she starts again and others can confirm it, then I think it's important to have kept these notes." Shortly before finishing my autopsy, the deceased, Violet Abigail Parker, began to talk.

I can confirm absolutely that she was dead when this happened, and I was at that moment examining her heart and lungs, and neither of them was active. How she could speak with an open thorax is beyond me. She seemed to be reciting some sort of story, almost as an involuntary reflex. I believe it may have some relevance to her death.

I managed to transcribe some and have included it in my notes. After a few minutes, the cadaver ceased to speak and has not resumed since. Unless the morgue technicians or funeral directors report something similar prior to cremation, I will probably keep this record private. I want to ask the next of kin about it, but unfortunately no one has come forward to claim the body.

Besides, I doubt they would appreciate finding out she gave her last words after her death. Transcript as follows: And of course, Mother always said not to.

It was an old house, and an empty house, and Mother said that that made it a dangerous house. There will be spiders, she said, rotten wood to fall through, and oh, so many rusty nails, and most importantly, too many rooms.

So many turning passageways to confuse you. So many locked doors that even if you didn't hurt yourself, you might never find your way out again, and then you'd walk till your feet broke and you starved to death. She wouldn't come for us if we went in there. She'd leave us to wander all alone. That's what Mother said, and we never did go in that house on Church Street.

But it's strange. Even though it never went inside, I've been in the house on Church Street my entire life. I try to escape it. If my mother says she needs money, I give it. If Tom needs me to put together more lesson plans, I will. If Hannah needs her clothes washed, I'll do it. Because if I don't, if I don't listen and I don't do what I'm told, then they won't come for me. I'll be alone in the house. I'll be alone.

And it's always there, waiting for me. I've dreamt of it my whole life. And I still am dreaming. When I was 15, we were told that we had to study Wordsworth in school. I wandered lonely as a cloud. Everyone laughed. Soppy, stupid poetry.

But in my imagination the clouds rolled silent and thick through the old house on Church Street, choking and hiding so that even if anyone had thought to look, they would never have seen me. The daffodils pushed and strained and tore through the old wood of the house, a rotted mass of yellow that would be my only company. From that day forward, the empty grey of the house was laced with fog and mouldering yellow.

The house itself is long gone, of course. They tore it down when I was ten, reduced to splinters and stones. But it was already too late. With my mother's help, I had built the house anew. Not on Church Street, but inside me, where no one would find me or ever think to look. And here I am.

The corridors stretch onwards with the doors all blank and strange. Even the daffodils are here, stinking of mildew. Someone has brought me here. But who? Some figure reaching, asking questions in an alley. It doesn't matter. They're not here now. No one's here now. No one ever will be.

Because I broke my promise. I went in the house on Church Street, and I'm still here. Now, all I can do is walk. Walk and hope, and ignore the burning in my throat and the aching in my belly. Keep screaming, hoping someone might hear me through all that cloying fog. But no one is coming to help me.

So, I must be careful on the stairs, or they will break and I will fall. I must be careful on the floor, or I will step upon an upturned nail. I must be careful with the doors, or the handles will give me splinters, and the fall will break my legs, and the nails will give me tetanus, and the splinters will turn to gangrene, and all the while the daffodils will watch and wilt and laugh. I wander lonely.

I wander lonely. I will die in this place, and no one will miss me. Alice? Were you listening to that one? Sorry, no. Was reading about some guy with an inverted face sitting on the ceiling watching another guy while he sleeps. Pretty gnarly stuff. Why? Well...

It was... this dead woman was speaking to the medical examiner and- G for ghost, comma, recent. Easy. No. It was the corpse itself that was speaking. Speaking as in...? As in telling the story of its death. Sounds like she was trapped in her greatest fear which then actually killed her. Look, I see where you're going with this. You think it's something to do with... with... with what I saw? Yeah.

I think maybe there's something out there that killed them both. Hmm, I see. So you reckon I should have a look at this case? Maybe note down some connections, pin it up on my corkboard, circle some key dates in bright red, connect them all with string, and stare at them while moodily sipping bourbon? I mean, maybe? That's dumb. You can't just ignore this. Why not?

Fine. Uh.

Uh, no, not really. Okay, did it give any hint as to where they were going to be in the future so that I can avoid also being there? Well, no, but... Did it in fact give any details as to how it works, what it looks like, what it wants, why it's here, anything like that? No. Then with the greatest respect, your idea is bad and you should feel bad. But now we know something's out there and...

If even 1% of these cases has even a grain of truth to them, then there are hundreds of somethings out there. Thousands! This is just the latest flavour of awful. But you might have actually met this one. In person. And in case you didn't notice, it messed me up! So why the hell would I want to know more about it? I mean, it might help you come to terms with it, or... No, Sam.

Sorry I wrote it up. It's okay.

I know you're just trying to help, but... Ooh, trouble in paradise. Lena's on Gwen's case again. I don't know. She looks... Hey, here comes trouble. As the barman said to the bull, oh, God, oh, God, no, please don't kill anyone. We don't have insurance. Don't tempt me. Wouldn't dream of it. Sam, on the other hand, looks pretty iffy to me. What's up? Nothing. It's fine.

Oh good, glad that's sorted. Sam, coffee? Er... You know, since everything is "fine". Gwen? It's just another externals assignment from Lena. And that's a problem because...? Because they're not fun.

Oh well, no wonder you're throwing a massive strop. Lena can't possibly expect you to do work that isn't a complete hoot every second. That would be completely unreasonable. Sorry, did I miss the part where "externals" is meant to mean anything? Grumpy contractors from outside the office getting government grants to do F-all. No, it's not. It's more complicated than that. Complicated how? They're not... I don't think they're people. Not all of them, anyway.

Not fully. I mean, are any of us lowly worms people to you? Not now, Alice. What do you mean, "not people," Gwen? In the cases. You know how there are often things or places or people or whatever who... aren't right? Who seem to be causing all the awful things to happen? Like... the monsters? I guess. Well, it seems some of them... I have to meet some of them to, uh... pass them work.

Right... Okay, so like, can you give us an example? I... yeah, I guess. So, do you remember from TV, Mr. Bonzo?

You absolute asshole, Gwen! You absolute... You totally had me going there. I was... Christ! Could you imagine though? You turn up to the TV station all like, "I have a job for you, Mr. Bonzo." And he's all like, "Bronzo! Bonzo! Bonzo!" Shut up! Shut up! Shut the fuck up! You don't... So... That was weird? Told you. Curiosity will get you killed.

Let's try and ignore it. Alice, she's really messed up. You can't just keep ignoring- Can't hear you! Headphones! Oh, for God's sake! Where's Georgie? There she is! Oh no! Where's Georgie gone? There she is! Oh no! Who keeps taking Georgie's face? Having fun? Always. He's a great kid. He's a hungry gremlin. I've been all over town to find somewhere in stock.

Thanks for stopping by to watch him. Of course. It's not like I've got a big journey and I've always got editing work that I can do just as easily from here as at home. Well, I really appreciate it. You know, you can call me beforehand. You don't need to wait until you've already gone to let me know. It's not always that simple. I run out of baby food and... Celia, I'm saying you don't need to lie to me. I'm not.

He woke up hungry after I got here, so I grabbed one of the many, many food jars you have in the cupboard. Ah. Look, Celia, I like you. And I love little Jack. Yes, I do. You're so cute. I'm not going to ask about all these emergencies that you have to run off to or your civil service job that happens to last all night. But if I'm going to be helping out, I need you to be straight with me on something. Okay. Okay.

Are you spying on me for the government? I promise I am not spying on you for the government. Illuminati? Masons? Well, no, you wouldn't be spying for the Masons, but you know what I mean. Wait, are you serious? Look, I know it's daft, but I need you to promise. Fine. I promise I am not spying on you for any government, secret society, or other organization. Or aliens. Or aliens. Good enough?

Yeah. Yeah, I believe you. Okay. Thanks. Right then, I should get going. See if I can catch some sleep. Speaking of, have you been out all this time in your pyjamas? Yes. Yes, I have. Okay! The Magnus Protocol is a podcast distributed by Rusty Quill and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Sharealike 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 J. Newell, with vocal edits by Lorianne Davis, soundscaping by Tessa Verou, and mastering by Catherine Rinella, with music by Sam Jones.

It featured Billy Hindle as Alistair, Shahan Hamza as Samama Khalid, Anusha Battersby as Gwen Bouchard, Laurie-Anne Davis as Celia Ripley, Kazim Tosin Amour as Teddy Vaughan, Sarah Lambie as Lena Kelly, with additional voices from Tim Fearon. The Magnus Protocol is produced by April Sumner, with executive producers Alexander J. Newell, Danny McDonagh, Lynn C., and Samantha F. G. Hamilton.

and associate producers Jordan L. Hawke, Taylor Michaels, Nicole Perlman, Cetius the Raven, and Megan Nice. To subscribe, view associated materials, 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. Thanks for listening. When you use SAP Concur solutions to automate your business finances, you'll be ready for anything.

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After 30 gigabytes, customers may experience slower speeds. Customers will pay $25 a month as long as they remain active on the Boost Unlimited plan. At Ashley, you'll find colorful furniture that brings your home to life. Ashley makes it easier than ever to express your personal style with an array of looks in fun trending hues to choose from. From earth tones to vibrant colors to calming blues and greens.

Ashley has pieces for every room in the house in the season's most sought-after shades. A more colourful life starts at Ashley. Shop in-store online today. Ashley, for the love of home. Hi everyone, it's Kareem, the voice of Simon Fairchild from the Magnus Archives. Today, I'm here to advertise Hainai, a podcast recently launched on the RQ Network. Hainai is an atmospheric, analogue-style horror audio drama featuring folk horror, mythology and chilling supernatural terrors in an urban setting.

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