Lab C: Chapter 9 - Notes on C-477 from Dr. Grimsen

Beginning of recording

A: This is Dr. Ambower obtaining special consultant Dr. Grimsen’s field report on C-477.

G: You taking any video in this room?

-a pause-

A: No. I’m not.

G: Great, ask your questions.

*Sharp intake of breath*

A:I guess we’ll start with your general report. What’d you find in there, Dr.?

G: It was a dark, scary place with a inky dude in it’s heart, probably powering the whole thing. I think he’s scared to leave.

A: What makes you say that?

G: Well…

-A pause-

A: No, please continue.

G: Well, ok. I’ma just brain dump and you sit back and take it in?

A: Uhhuh.

G: Alright, so like, That thing emanates an aura. I could barely get myself to go in the damn place. Once inside, it looked pretty bog standard, bottom floor fairly renovated and taken care of, the other floors we’re more obvious: door frames with repaired lock spaces, patched holes with different colored paint. The Shadows grew most material at the 3rd floor.

A: The Shadows, C-477 C.

G:Ah. No. C-477 D.

A: Right. yeah, I’m sorry, please continue. What did you notice about them?

G: C-477D?

-A pause-

A: Mhm.

G: Like, the farther from the door, the farther from escape physically. They all seemed to gravitate to protecting the Inky dude…

-A pause-

A: John.

G: Right, sorry. So, it hates fire. Absolutely terrified. Besides death, it means the place it came from goes away. All some of us have as a legacy is where we’re from. There’s no where we seem to be going that’s worth talking about, there’s nothing we’re doing that people take notice of. Whose ever fault it is, that kind of life really makes you clutch onto anything you can for a sense of self. I’m betting this thing is the accumulation of hope and pride sunk into making impossible conditions work, accentuated by the cracks in metaphysical space left by the rituals that were done in the basement before the revolution of child miners against the parents the company hired to police them.

A: Mmmm. Is that so?

G: Also, it seemed really playful? It definitely wanted to murder me, but I think it was more in a desire to mess around how it knew how to, or maybe to keep me there forever? Have we noticed any difference in the strength of the place when we fed it people?

A: I’m not sure.

G: I would put money down that it has.

A: And, why do you think the basement has anything to do with it?

G: OK! SO! When I was taking a trip and loosening the veil-

A:-ugh, how do you make it sound so dorky.

G: Excuse you. That’s what you pay me for.

A: Is that all?

- a pause -

G: You tell me?

A: You’ve got more than one talent.

- a pause -

A: You were taking a trip?

G: And, as a looser, lower layer of reality was shaping around me, I noticed that there were words etched into the walls. Not physical etchings but cracks and spaces. The same energy I was picking up from the inky dude was pulsing in them. Like, vwoo vwoo vwoo

A: I know what pulsing means.

G: The words were like, “Help me”, “Don’t go”, I don’t know. I don’t super remember. But it gave off a, “I want to leave but I’m scared of what’s out there.”

A: No.

G: No?

A: No. I don’t think that’s it. If that was it, we could just make it a big box with everything it wants and it’d come right. We could torch the place. But it doesn’t want you to torch it. It was so afraid of fire it let you out.

G: True. Hmmm…

- a pause -

G: True…

- a pause -

G: The inky dude was young. At least, it felt young.

A: Did you do your panted entrance?

G: Stored one up on the way over.

A: Gross.

G: You can tell a lot about something by how it reacts to gas. Certainly learned a lot about you.

A: Yeah, that I think it’s gross.

G: And other stuff.

A: and other stuff.

- a pause -

A:Why do you mention it’s age?

G: That’s also why I think it’s scared. It’s just a kid. It’s got all this energy protecting it, keeping it there. Or it keeps them there? Maybe it keeps them there. Ok, so maybe the shadows are what keep it there? Either way, before things turned, it was sad, wounded, curious. When it looked at me it wasn’t worried, but it also wasn’t welcoming. I don’t think it’s used to visitors.

A: What else did you notice about the shadows? Are they from him or from the building?

G: Did I tell you about the loose teeth?

A: I do not want to hear about that. Put it in your written.

G: They were a part of the building more than they were from him. He seemed pretty separate from them. Actually, I think I saw him push a few aside while running. They were definitely separate. They come from the building.

A: So if we want to preserve the whole entity then the buildings gotta come too.

G: You were always going to take the ritual chamber.

A: Well of course we were going to take the ritual chamber but, imbuing consciousness and will into a physical space is exceptional data. And if we can keep it going…

G: You’ve clearly never seen Full Metal Alchemist.

A: Huh?

G: Nevermind, anime thing. Shows us why its a bad idea.

A: Everything in here is a bad idea.

G: That’s fair. So the shadows, they were very grabby. They were grabby and warm. Definitely solid, I slammed a few into the wall a few times.

A: Did you now, a few times?

G: Yes I did, a few times.

A: Were they heavy?

G: For shadows, they felt more like bags of mud in latex. Tight, stretched latex. It jiggled and flexed under the weight. You know, like when-

A: -AND you could physically move them. Got it. Uhm, just real quick for when I go over this later. Run down the sequence of events.

G: I approached the building, felt immense dread. I had to psyche myself up to go inside. I sprinted up into the building shoving shadows aside. When I got to the third floor, there was a mass of them. I was corned by two masses of shadows, one of which I think was the energy of the Inky Dude’s door. While I could move them, I realized they were still just shadows so I walked through them.

In the Inky Dude’s room, it appeared to be an infinite expanse, but it was way too dark to tell. It resembled a studio apartment, just an infinite one. The inky dude sat opposite the door hugging its knees. I made contact and it regarded me curiously. I put down a protection ring and safe guarded for mal intent.

OH! Right. Before going in I tested some runes, I just realized it was the rune for sanctuary that was triggered by the space.

So I set up my sand ring of sanctuary, you owe me a new helmet by the way.

A: That’s fine.

G: Cool. I dropped down into sub-base levels of reality and interacted with the entity on an energetic level. It seemed curious and wanting to test me, see what I’m made of I guess. As I came up in level, I saw the entity as a child in what I think was the original room.

It cried for help, the words bursting from the walls, but as I got closer, it began to laugh.

When I came back to base reality, the shadows had me surrounded and the Inky dude was chomping for me. I was able to make an escape utilizing fire. End of report.

A: Ok that’s it?

G: Anything else come up I’ll just tell you.

A: I’m not that available anymore.

G: Then I better make the most of you while I have you.

- A pause -

G: Well, that is a nice shade of blue.

A: Yes, this pen is a really nice-

G: -Just turn the damn thing off.

• End of recording