ANNOUNCER (ALEX NEWALL)
Hello everybody and congratulations on making it to the end of the first season of The Magnus Protocol!
Ahead of today’s episode, we thought it might be a good idea to give everyone a rundown of what to expect during the hiatus and what else we have going on in the meantime because, as always, there’s a lot. Like a lot.
Okay. First things first, we have a bunch of bonus content unlocked thanks to Kickstarter and Patreon backers, so thank you to everyone who contributed to our horrible silliness!
Today’s episode is the first of our bonus hiatus content, and we’re starting with the Epilogue for Season 1. This little addenda to what you’ve already heard is canon and I’ll be honest, pretty important to listen to for the story, even if it isn’t a full-length episode.
After this we have our first Fluff episode that we have affectionately titled: “Plenty of Fish.” Though technically canon, it is absolutely not essential to the plot and is guaranteed absolutely zero horror. Just a slice of O.I.A.R. life.
Then we have our first “What If” episode, rather less affectionately titled: “What if everyone just listened to Colin?” This is non-canon and takes a look at how things would have panned out in the story with one small but important change. We’ll leave you to guess what we changed in this one.
After this we have a whole host of additional content including the Season 2 trailer and the release of our latest Rusty Fears, which you’ll be able to vote on, with the winner getting to help write an episode of Protocol! We might even try to sneak in a Q&A and some third-party recordings… if you’re good.
After all this, you can expect a return of The Magnus Protocol for Season 2 in February, 2025.
We know that feels a long way off, but making this show is an absolutely monumental effort and as fun as making it is, our staff have yet to volunteer to have their weak fleshy bodies replaced by glorious chrome, so they do occasionally need a break. For now.
Outside of the main feed, though, it’s busy, busy, busy with the Season 2 Premiere Preview on the way.
In terms of other bonus materials, don’t worry, we are still working on all of them – we are just waiting on some third-party bits and bobs beyond our control. We’ll update everyone on each element as soon as we are sure things are locked in, so be sure to keep an eye on Kickstarter and Patreon updates.
Beyond that, I am happy to say final approvals on The Magnus Archives TTRPG developed by Monte Cook Games are complete, and stuff is looking very shiny and should be being printed in enormous numbers as we speak!
In a similar vein, many of you will already know that we have a Magnus Protocol board game on the way, developed by the team behind the massively popular Coup, The Resistance and Sherlock Files games. The fundraising for this project will be starting soon, so make sure you head over to rustyquill.com/boardgame where you can register your interest for when it goes live and get first dibs on some early-bird goodies.
And if ALL THAT is still not enough for you, you greedy little content goblin, don’t forget we have an entire network of shows you can fill your boots on, not to mention Neon Inkwell, our in-house sister podcast where we showcase the brightest (and darkest) new talent in audio fiction, including some familiar names too.
Well. That’s about everything for now, apart from saying thank you to every one of you who helps make this possible, and hoping you enjoy today’s episode.
Or don’t. I mean, it’s gonna happen to you either way, so…
[Intro Theme]
ANNOUNCER
Rusty Quill Presents: The Magnus Protocol.
Season One Epilogue.
[Music]
[Some static fuzzing as the landline begins to record]
[Distant footsteps]
GWEN
(cautious) Hello?
…Lena?
[The footsteps continue]
[Gwen very quietly inhales, exhales, and stands]
ALICE
Lena, we need to talk –
[The door opens]
[Gwen moves to strike, only to pull up short]
ALICE
Gah!
GWEN
AHHH!
[Alice shoves Gwen who stumbles backward.]
GWEN
Oh for Christ’s sake Alice –
ALICE
Gwen?! What are you doing in here?
GWEN
(getting up) I thought you were… someone else.
ALICE
Right. (shaking it off) Where’s Lena? I need to talk to her.
[Gwen walks slowly back to the desk, attempting to reassert herself.]
GWEN
Lena’s gone.
ALICE
…
(haggard and urgent) Gone where?
GWEN
(starting to enjoy herself) Who’s to say?
ALICE
Stop pissing around, Gwen, she’s not picking up her phone and this is important.
GWEN
Well, then, I can’t wait to hear it –
ALICE
(angry) Gwen –
GWEN
– since I’m in charge now.
ALICE
(thrown) I – You what?
GWEN
(pleased as punch) You heard. Lena’s been let go on multiple counts of negligence, incompetence, possibly even corruption.
ALICE
This isn’t a fucking joke, Gwen! Sam’s…
[She can’t say it.]
GWEN
(starting to become concerned) What?
…
(louder) Sam’s what, Alice?
ALICE
(breaking) I-I don’t –
…He and Celia. They found a – thing, and one of your Externals was there and they…
She says he…
[Beat.]
[Alice cries.]
GWEN
(quiet horror) Dead?
ALICE
(choking) No! …Maybe… No! I don’t know!
GWEN
(exasperated sigh) You’re not making sense, Alice. Where’s Celia? I-I’ll ask her myself.
ALICE
(rasping) She went home. She needed to be with her baby.
GWEN
You’re serious, aren’t you?
[Alice sniffles, trying to get her breathing back under control]
GWEN
…I-I don’t know what to say.
ALICE
No. You don’t.
GWEN
So… What do we do?
ALICE
(bitter) Well, I was going to talk to Lena! But apparently it’s just your useless arse here.
GWEN
(offended laugh) Excuse me? I am not useless –
ALICE
Save it!
[Gwen audibly stops herself]
[When she speaks again, she sounds calm. Official.]
GWEN
Look, I’ll admit, this is still very new to me. Do you know if Lena had any sort of – documentation, for this sort of thing?
ALICE
(softly) What?!
GWEN
You know, like a guide, a manual, that sort of thing?
ALICE
(exhausted) No! I don’t think she had a manual for this!
GWEN
I just need something that explains her role. The procedures…
ALICE
(so fucking done) Gwen. Please, just stop.
[A long pause. The clock ticks.]
GWEN
Look. I know this is hard, but Lena must have had a contingency for something like this. I mean, look how quickly she dealt with Colin! All we need to do is find a manual and just –
ALICE
Shit! Colin!
GWEN
(facade dropping) Jesus, it got Colin too?!
ALICE
What? No. H-He called me, just before – (voice cracking) He sounded in a bad way, and then, with everything, I-I just… I never called him back.
GWEN
(sighs) Oh, fine, just make it quick. We’ve got enough on our plate without –
[A phone rings distantly in the main office. It is an uncharacteristically upbeat tune.]
[Beat.]
GWEN
Is that…?
ALICE
(quiet) Colin…
[Silence. The ringtone continues.]
GWEN
(trying for hope) Maybe he – came in to do some work?
ALICE
(blankly) He wasn’t out there when I came in.
GWEN
Maybe he… just left his phone here?
ALICE
He was getting weird about them… But then how did he call me last night?
[The ringing stops.]
ROBOTIC VOICE
(muffled) Your call was –
ALICE
Voicemail.
[She hangs up, then redials. The ringtone starts up again.]
ALICE
Come on.
[They start walking]
[Tape recorder clicks on]
[Wind whistles. It sounds oppressive, heavy]
[It builds and builds and builds – we hear a faint scream – and then it tears]
[Sam shouts, then groans in pain as he hits the ground]
[The portal closes. The wind subsides.]
SAM
(barely a gasp) Where…
[He collapses]
[Click.]
[O.I.A.R. computer whirs on]
[We hear the last few notes of the ringtone, extremely close by the microphone]
[Something is vibrating against metal]
[The ringtone ends, and the vibration stops]
[The door opens]
GWEN
You’re sure it was in here.
ALICE
Pretty sure.
(calling) Colin?
[There is no answer]
[The two of them walk around]
GWEN
Maybe he’s… hiding?
ALICE
(annoyed) Why would he be hiding?
GWEN
He’s not supposed to be here, remember? Not after the whole… hammer thing.
ALICE
Well, his phone is, at least.
[They continue searching slowly]
GWEN
Anything?
ALICE
Nope.
GWEN
…Try calling again.
[Alice sighs, but calls again. The extremely clear ringtone restarts.]
GWEN
Over there.
[Footsteps as they move towards the ringtone, then stop]
GWEN
You think he left his phone on a server rack…?
ALICE
Well I hardly think he’s hiding inside it, do you?
[Beat. The ringtone rings.]
GWEN
Open it.
ALICE
You open it!
GWEN
Alice, I am your manager and I am telling you to open it.
ALICE
And I am telling you, not a cat-in-hell’s chance!
GWEN
Oh for goodness sake, must I do everything myself?
[Gwen grabs a server rack and yanks]
[The phone rings loudly and vibrates across the metal board]
ALICE
(quietly) Oh, Colin…
GWEN
What are you even –
[Gwen screams]
[The microphone clicks off]
[Music]
ANNOUNCER
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 Newall, and directed by Alexander J Newall.
This episode was written by Jonathan Sims and edited with additional materials by Alexander J Newall, with vocal edits by Nico Vettese, soundscaping by Meg McKellar, and mastering by Catherine Rinella with music by Sam Jones.
It featured Billie Hindle as Alice Dyer, Shahan Hamza as Samama Khalid, Anusia Battersby as Gwen Bouchard.
The Magnus Protocol is produced by April Sumner, with executive producers Alexander J Newall, Dani McDonough, Linn Ci, and Samantha F.G. Hamilton, and Associate Producers Jordan L. Hawk, Taylor Michaels, Nicole Perlman, Cetius d’Raven, and Megan Nice.
To subscribe, view associated materials, or join our Patreon, visit rustyquill.com. Rate and review us online, tweet us @therustyquill, visit us on facebook or email us at mail@rustyquill.com.
Thanks for listening.