The Listening Club TTRPG Special - Episode 4

Summary

---

The Magnus Archives: The Listening Club TTRPG Special – Episode 4

Podcast: The Magnus Archives
Host: Jonathan Sims (Rusty Quill)
Date: January 1, 2026

---

Episode Overview

This fourth and final installment of "The Listening Club" TTRPG Special plunges the cast of The Magnus Archives into the climax of a playful yet chilling tabletop adventure, set in a world that both lampoons and honors the horror podcast format. The group, playing themselves as fictionalized characters, confronts the horrifying secrets behind a rival podcast studio, culminating in a surreal boss fight with an eldritch podcast producer. Full of in-jokes, horror tropes, and character-driven antics, the session balances suspense, humor, and meta-commentary about fiction podcasting.

---

Main Characters (Players & PCs)

• Jonathan Sims (Host / GM): Games master and architect of chaos.
• Anusha (she/her): Playing Margot, enigmatic and fastidious.
• Ian Hales (he/him): Playing Alphonse Platt, notably stressed.
• Lowry (she/her): Playing Elodie Jones, the resolute and sometimes overwhelmed participant.
• Pip: Playing Barry Knapp, the hearty, immortal bouncer.
• Kareem: Present in chat, provides commentary and brief asides.

---

Key Discussion Points & Adventure Highlights

1. Recap and Immediate Danger (02:02–05:00)

• Lowry gives a tongue-in-cheek brief on previous events:
  • The group is looking for their missing friend June in her flat.
  • They’re drawn to a mysterious podcast producer’s office ("Moldy Pencil" instead of "Rusty Towers").
  • Trapped inside with no cell signal, they find a chilling scene of mannequins, blood, and dismembered heads.

Lowry (03:58): "We find an address that we've never seen listed before for… Moldy Pencil, the company who produce Armitage Library. And you know, we've done what any reasonable person would… we've gone there."

2. Locked Doors, Split Parties & Mannequin Horror (05:00–08:10)

• The team debates how to escape:
  • Barry (Pip) kicks in a door, interrupting something lurking in the adjacent recording studio.
  • Margot (Anusha), initially ready to use her lockpicking kit, opts to observe Barry’s brute force for amusement.

Anusha (06:16): "Margot reaches into her massive tote bag to go for her lock picking kit, sees what's going on, and gradually lowers it back into the bag. Because this is far more entertaining."

3. The Monster Revealed: Arthur Jean Ethel (07:25–09:00)

• The monstrous host/producer, Arthur Jean Ethel, emerges from the studio, disturbingly friendly at first, but soon letting his tongue unspool and lash about.
• He feeds on listeners' fear and brains via their ears—a grotesque meta-joke about horror podcasts.

Jonathan Sims (08:27): "As he is talking, his tongue starts to unspool and lengthen and sort of snake… Always good to meet people who support us through listening, through subscribing, having their fear drained out their ears."

4. Desperate Attempts & Comic Strategies (09:00–13:00)

• Alphonse (Ian) whiffs a throw using a mannequin head as a projectile.
• Margot (Anusha) uses her ever-handy deck of playing cards to inflict actual paper cuts on the monster’s tongue, judged by random card draws.
• The group splits, with Barry and Elodie attempting to escape downstairs via brute force and a search for alternative exits.

Anusha (11:01): "Can Margot take out a pack of cards that she always carries with her? And I want to try and give this tongue as many little paper cuts as I can get away with."

5. Horrible Revelations & Garage of Death (13:12–14:46)

• Elodie discovers a garage stacked with bodies—victims wearing podcast merchandise notably mutilated, their brain matter "schlorped" out.
• The group has to process the reality of their missing friend June’s fate.

Jonathan Sims (14:00): "Where you'd expect there to be vehicles, there is instead a pile of bodies of people, mostly, wearing, like, Armitage library merchandise, all of which have mangled ears, as though something has, like, gone in and, like, schlorped out their brains."

6. Showdown in the Studio (16:00–26:30)

• Alphonse attempts to sneak past Arthur to reach June but confirms her grim death.
• Margot and Barry attempt knife attacks and protective shoves, with Barry acting as Margot’s protector.
• Alphonse, using deductive skills and a bit of in-game luck, triggers a feedback loop with a "special" microphone and monitor speaker, escalating the tension dramatically.

Ian Hales (23:50): "I'm wondering if I should try and provoke a feedback loop... In fact. Yeah, that's what I'm going to do."

• The feedback damages everyone in the room (players must decide how much stress they’ll risk).
• In the chaos, Barry manages to physically grab and pull out Arthur's unholy tongue, causing the monster to dissolve into what is described as "liquid noise."

Jonathan Sims (26:34): "Arthur says, 'thanks for listening and see you next time,' and you pull it out and he just sort of pops in like a gooey, viscous collection of... liquid noise."

7. Aftermath & Epilogue (27:17–28:08)

• The survivors are deafened but alive; Elodie escapes and calls the police.
• In-game, the horror is rationalized away as a serial killer.
• The cast muses about starting their own podcast with the discovered minidiscs, playfully dubbing it "The Barry Archives" — a cheeky nod to fandom and meta-humor.

Pip (27:47): "If we're headcanning this, Elodie still has all those minidiscs, so we can just release our own version... the super graphic real stories, right? The Barry Archives."

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Jonathan Sims (08:27): "Having their fear drained out their ears."
• Anusha (11:01): "Give this tongue as many little paper cuts as I can get away with."
• Lowry (14:59): "Elodie is going to throw up."
• Ian Hales (23:50): "Yeah, that's what I'm going to do. We'll try and provoke a feedback loop."
• Jonathan Sims (26:34): "'Thanks for listening and see you next time,' and you pull it out and he just sort of pops in like a gooey, viscous collection of like... liquid noise."
• Pip (27:47): "If we're headcanning this, Elodie still has all those minidiscs, so we can just release our own version. The Barry Archives."

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Previous Events Recap: 03:00–04:00
• Discovery of the Mannequin Room: 05:00–06:00
• Arthur Jean Ethel’s Entrance: 07:25–08:15
• First Combat – Mannequins, Heads, Paper Cuts: 09:00–12:30
• Garage of Death Discovery: 13:56–14:46
• June’s Fate Revealed: 16:31–16:41
• Initiating the Feedback Loop: 23:50–25:00
• Monster Defeated: 26:34–27:17
• Postscript: Podcast Cancelled, New Podcast Jokes: 27:47–28:08

---

Tone and Style

The tone is a playful blend of horror and banter, characteristic of a TTRPG session between longtime friends who are deeply familiar with the podcasting and horror landscapes. Jokes about podcast production, audience engagement, and the Rusty Quill’s own meta-context abound.

---

Conclusion

The finale of "The Listening Club" adventure delivers on its promise: a tightly executed horror-comedy scenario packed with memorable moments, teamwork, and fourth-wall-breaking gags. It also slyly comments on the nature of storytelling in horror podcasting—literally feeding on the fears of listeners. While the monstrous mysteries resolve, the real treat is the interplay between cast and characters as they survive, joke, and plot the next fan-favorite podcast within a podcast.

End Note from Jonathan Sims (28:08):

"We all have a lot of fun here, but Rusty Quill is actually really cool and does not endorse shoving your tongue in anyone's ears to drink their fear in their brain. That's not something Rusty Quill has ever done, will ever do. And this is just me making fun of my friends. Thank you all for listening. Bye bye."

---

For listeners/fans:
This episode is a must-listen (or read) for fans who revel in meta-humor, the horror genre, and TTRPG shenanigans—especially those who enjoy behind-the-mic jokes and community in-jokes!

Transcript

[Jonathan Sims]

AI had the time of my life a I never felt this way before. From building timelines to assigning the right people, and even spotting risks across dozens of projects, Monday Sidekick knows your business, thinks ahead and takes action. One click on the star and consider it done. And I owe it all to you. Try Monday Sidekick AI you'll love to.

[Pura Advertisement Voice]

Use on Monday.com Need a calmer reset after the holidays? Meet Pura's well Being collection Premium fragrances designed to restore your sense of place in the home and on the go. Feel grounded, Feel good? Find the mood you need right [e-mail].

[Kareem]

Moods hi everyone, it's Kareem, the voice of Simon Fairchild and the eternal Tavern Keeper. Today I'm here to tell you about Old Gods of Appalachia, a podcast on the RQ Network. Old Gods of Appalachia is a multi award winning horror audio drama produced by the brilliant team at Deep Nerd Media that is currently releasing its much anticipated fourth season in the mountains of Central Appalachia. Blood runs as deep as these hollows and just as dark. Since before our kind knew these hills, hearts of unknowable hunger and madness have slumbered beneath them. These are the darkest mountains in the world. How dare we think we can break the skin of a God and dig out its heart without bringing forth blood and darkness. Old Gods of Appalachia is a multi award winning, critically acclaimed audio drama podcast. Old God sits alongside this very podcast as one of the most popular fiction podcasts in the world. Experience it for yourself by searching for Old Gods of Appalachia. Wherever you listen to your podcasts or go to www.rustedquill.com or www.oldgodsofappalachia.com for.

[Jonathan Sims]

Hello and welcome back to the fourth and final part of the Listening Club, a Magnus Archives tabletop role playing game and definitely not an excuse for me Johnny to roast all my beloved co workers. That's definitely not what's happening. And with me as three times before, is Anusha. Hello.

[Anusha]

Hello, I'm Anusha, pronounced she her. And I am playing the wonderful, to the point and rather, rather enigmatic Margot.

[Jonathan Sims]

Hello Ian.

[Ian Hales]

Hello Johnny. Yes, it's Ian Hales here. Hear him? I'm playing the now slightly stressed stressed to a value of 4 of Alphonse Platt.

[Jonathan Sims]

Hello Lowry.

[Lowry]

Hello. Yes, it's me Lowry. Once, twice, three times. And Elodie Jones. Both she her and Pip.

[Pip]

Hello, I am Pip. I will be playing the long lived, immortal, unkillable Barry Knapp. Looking forward to the bright future that he has ahead of him.

[Anusha]

Oh, bless.

[Jonathan Sims]

And I am Jonathan Sims. He him. Your humble games master last time. Lowrie, do you want to take us through what's happened so far? The abridged version. I gave it to Anusha last time and we got into some granular detail.

[Anusha]

So you'll give it to the fastidious character?

[Lowry]

Oh, sure. My memory is notoriously poor, so it'll be the absolute polar opposite. We were at June's flat and June is our friend who has gone missing. We are at her flat looking for her. She's not there. We hear spooky tapes. Spooky real life question mark versions of. Sorry, not tapes. Mini discs. Versions of beloved slash most worst episodes.

[Pip]

Of the Armitage Library.

[Lowry]

Armitage Library. Of the Armitage Library, the well known.

[Jonathan Sims]

Horror fiction podcast, obviously, yes.

[Lowry]

We find an address that we've never seen listed before for. I was gonna say Rusty Towers, and that's not it for Moldy Pencil, the company who produce Armitage Library. And you know, we've done what any reasonable person would. We've gone there, we've gone there. And importantly, Elodie left a voice note for her sister so that she knows where she is. We went in, we saw that things were spooky. We saw blood on the floor. And of course, we went upstairs instead of calling the police outside where the signal.

[Jonathan Sims]

You tried to call the police. You didn't try to leave and call the police. But to be fair to Elodie, the door was already locked.

[Lowry]

Oh, okay. Well, great. And we are now in a room upstairs full of mannequins and corpseless heads. And we can't get out because the door is locked and no one took the lock picking skill. So that's great.

[Ian Hales]

Only if somebody had done that.

[Anusha]

I can pick locks. I can pick locks.

[Jonathan Sims]

So, yeah, the door's locked.

[Anusha]

Is it the door directly behind us into this, like, office space with the headsets locked, or is it the door downstairs that we've heard being locked?

[Jonathan Sims]

It is the door back to the stairway.

[Billy Hindle]

Okay.

[Jonathan Sims]

You are in, like, a large open plan office with a whole bunch of mannequins and some discarded heads. In the corner you can see a separated little room which is labeled as recording studio. And there definitely seems to be some movement in there. So the door to the recording studio is one of those, like, wooden doors with a long, thin bit of frosted glass in it. So you can see, like, shadows shifting the other side of the frosted glass, but not really details.

[Pip]

I'm thinking of the Room that we're now in. I'm just thinking about the door that's locked behind us. How much glass is in that door?

[Jonathan Sims]

That one has six small glass square panels. You could easily break any of them, but none of them are really big enough for. Well, certainly not big enough for Barry to fit through.

[Lowry]

Damn.

[Jonathan Sims]

As a 50 year old bouncer, Barry's gonna struggle.

[Kareem]

Yeah.

[Pip]

Oh, absolutely. I know it's not necessarily gonna help, but at least in order to up the tension here and the pressure of the situation, I'm gonna haul off and just start kicking the door that just loc. We gotta get out of here.

[Kareem]

Okay.

[Jonathan Sims]

I will give you a might roll. You'd need an 18. Do you have anything that might reduce that?

[Pip]

I have an edge in might, so I will spend two to lower it to a 15.

[Lowry]

Barry is mighty, and I believe in him.

[Anusha]

Margot reaches into her massive tote bag to go for her lock picking kit, sees what's going on, and gradually lowers it back into the bag. Because this is far more entertaining.

[Pip]

That is a 19.

[Jonathan Sims]

Okay. The door breaks off its hinges and swings out. As it does, the movement in the record studio stops abruptly, as though its attention has been got by something. What are you doing?

[Pip]

The protector has overridden the inquisitive at this point, I think, and Barry is like, come on, we have to go.

[Jonathan Sims]

Okay, so who's first out?

[Lowry]

I mean, I was trying to get out. Elodie's running out, trying to call the police again on her phone repeatedly.

[Jonathan Sims]

Yeah. There's no signal.

[Anusha]

Margot's taking photos. So she'd be last out.

[Jonathan Sims]

Yeah, you can get down. The front door is also locked. Are the rest of you staying in the office?

[Ian Hales]

I'm going for the recording door.

[Jonathan Sims]

Oh, you're heading to the recording studio. Okay. Who's running down to try and get out the front door? Who's heading towards the recording studio?

[Pip]

Sounds like me and Elodie are going downstairs. I didn't catch one.

[Anusha]

I'm taking photos for evidence. Hanging back a little bit towards where the desks and heads are.

[Pip]

So in between the two, Landshaw.

[Jonathan Sims]

Yeah.

[Anusha]

She's kind of wondering if she could maybe disguise herself as one of the heads on the desks. If push comes to shove, use a bit of trickery.

[Jonathan Sims]

Okay. The door to the recording studio swings open slowly, and emerging from it is quite a normal looking guy. You recognize him? He, like, he's wearing a suit that he wears in most of his, like, publicity photos. And it is Arthur Jean Ethel, the writer, producer. I mean, looking at the mannequins. Looks like he does pretty much everything on the podcast.

[Lowry]

I just got this.

[Jonathan Sims]

Really just got this.

[Anusha]

Now I'm hearing it in full over and over. I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah.

[Jonathan Sims]

There may be a small, a small aspect of me creating a monster out of my dear friend and collaborator. Arthur steps out. Hi, I'm Arthur. Good to see you. Thanks for joining me.

[Anusha]

Beautiful.

[Jonathan Sims]

You can see behind him in the booth, unmoving, it looks like Jim.

[Anusha]

Oh, no.

[Jonathan Sims]

Her head is sort of lolled to the side and you can see the large red mark on one side of her head. As Arthur starts to come towards you, he's talking very affably.

[Anusha]

Hey.

[Jonathan Sims]

Hey. Great to see you. Thanks so much for coming by. It's always good to meet a listener. As he is talking, his tongue starts to unspool and lengthen and sort of snake. It doesn't seem to be in any way affecting his ability to speak. And it is starting to sort of lash out in various directions. Always good to meet people who support us through listening, through subscribing, having their fear drained out their ears.

[Kareem]

What the.

[Jonathan Sims]

Just, you know, if you want to have a seat, that'll be a lot easier. Yeah, I'm going to give you all too stress.

[Anusha]

Oh, I'm actually taking stress now.

[Lowry]

No.

[Pip]

Should we hold off? Because we're downstairs trying to get out the front door.

[Anusha]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Sims]

You don't get the stress just yet.

[Pip]

Just yet.

[Lowry]

Yeah, that's coming.

[Pip]

Oh, I expect to have it at some stage.

[Jonathan Sims]

So, Ian, you are now impaired by stress.

[Ian Hales]

Yes.

[Jonathan Sims]

Which means it costs you one extra point from any pool to add effort to a roll.

[Ian Hales]

Okay.

[Jonathan Sims]

So whatcha doing?

[Ian Hales]

I'm gonna look and see if there's anything that I can use to batter his tongue away. A file, a laptop, anything that is officey.

[Jonathan Sims]

You could probably grab a mannequin. Lem.

[Lowry]

Yeah, why not?

[Jonathan Sims]

I mean, as far as limbs go, it's not particularly elegant.

[Anusha]

It's got nothing on yours.

[Ian Hales]

No. Anyway, yeah, I'm gonna take it and.

[Pip]

Use it as a club.

[Jonathan Sims]

So that will be a might roll. I'm gonna say you probably need a 15. Do you have anything that might help?

[Ian Hales]

Artifact affinity? No, that's like for really artifact y things, isn't it?

[Jonathan Sims]

You know what, I might say that the heads count as artifacts. Yeah.

[Pip]

Okay.

[Ian Hales]

Yeah, I'm going for a head instead.

[Pip]

Watching him with a skull, I'm gonna.

[Ian Hales]

Pick up a head and scone it at him.

[Jonathan Sims]

Alright, brilliant.

[Lowry]

I like the idea that like he picks up an arm, he's like, no, this isn't right. And then picks up a desecrated human head.

[Pip]

These limbs are far too elegant.

[Ian Hales]

There's no heft in a mannequin arm.

[Jonathan Sims]

You're kind of right. I would say it's probably a speed roll then, rather than might if you're lobbing ahead. Okay, that will be 15, lower to 12. Do you want to spend some pool points to lower it to a nine?

[Ian Hales]

I'm only here once. Why not? Let's do it.

[Jonathan Sims]

That will cost you four from your pool because you're impaired. You're like, you need a nine.

[Ian Hales]

I failed. I got a five on that.

[Anusha]

Jeez.

[Ian Hales]

Oh, no.

[Jonathan Sims]

You toss it and it sort of lands at his feet, and he picks up and the tongue sort of loops around and, like, starts to probe the indentation where the ear was. And he's, like, taking the story from that one already. I'm looking for something fresh.

[Anusha]

Okay, how near is this tongue to me at this point right now?

[Jonathan Sims]

Let's say 2 meters away.

[Anusha]

Can Margot take out a pack of cards that she always carries with her? And I want to try and give this tongue as many little paper cuts as I can get away with. Just like.

[Ian Hales]

She'S throwing them.

[Anusha]

No, she's standing by the tongue. She goes up to it. She's like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

[Lowry]

Just like.

[Pip]

Like you're repeatedly swiping a credit card.

[Anusha]

She's shuffling them but, like, along his tongue.

[Jonathan Sims]

I love that Anusha's mind isn't like, okay, I want to try and cut the tongue. Would I have a knife?

[Lowry]

Ah, sever it.

[Anusha]

She's got lock picking tools. We can go to those as well.

[Pip]

No, this is way funnier.

[Anusha]

I just thought the element of surprise would.

[Jonathan Sims]

It's not what any of us were expecting. I'll be honest, Anusha. All right, that'll be a speed roll. Same as in. You need. Actually, hold on. Do you have a set of playing cards anywhere nearby?

[Anusha]

You know what, Johnny, it's funny you should say that. I always keep a pack of cards right near my desk.

[Jonathan Sims]

Draw a card if you get a face or an ace, you manage to give him a little paper cut. If it's a joker, you slice the tip off. To be clear to our listeners at home, this is absolutely not a mechanic in Monte Cook's the Magnus Archives rpg.

[Anusha]

So shuffle, shuffle, shuffle. And Queen of Diamonds.

[Jonathan Sims]

Brilliant. Are you holding them or throwing the card?

[Anusha]

I think holding them like that and just going, like, as much as she can.

[Jonathan Sims]

Okay. So it lashes out. You can almost Feel a wet tongue lapping around your ear when you swing your hand up.

[Anusha]

She hasn't taken her headphones off.

[Jonathan Sims]

It's a big, meaty tongue. It's gonna not go away. Your headphones provide no protection from this.

[Lowry]

The blanket did nothing.

[Jonathan Sims]

With a quip flick of the wrist, a nasty line of red springs up on the tongue, and it sort of whips back for a second, and Arthur smiles. Is like, ow. That kind of hurt. But thanks anyway for listening. But it does give you a few moments of reprieve. Oh, incidentally, downstairs at the front door that is locked and bolted. What are you up to?

[Pip]

I think Barry probably has tried to kick the door a couple times.

[Lowry]

You want to try kicking the door again?

[Pip]

Yeah, go for it.

[Jonathan Sims]

It's a little bit meatier than the one upstairs, so it'll be 21.

[Pip]

I've got a might edge just to lower the spend.

[Jonathan Sims]

Okay, so you can spend two to lower it to 18.

[Pip]

Yeah. I mean, the odds aren't great. Let's go for it.

[Jonathan Sims]

No. 16.

[Pip]

Very close.

[Jonathan Sims]

Afraid that's a stubbed toe and a point of stress there, mate.

[Pip]

Yeah, I think Barrow will give this door a couple of heavy kicks.

[Jonathan Sims]

And then turning.

[Pip]

See the Alphonse and Margot have not followed us downstairs, like, oh, shit. And then start heading back up, hearing something's going on up there.

[Lowry]

Elodie is grabbing you. You don't have to. Obviously, you're stronger than her. But the garage. The garage. I'm going off by myself. Even if you don't follow me, I'm gonna run to try and find us an exit.

[Pip]

Go for it. I will run upstairs, though.

[Lowry]

So I'm gonna go right. Is it? Or left. Whichever way. Towards where you said the garage would be.

[Jonathan Sims]

So you open the door to the garage, and as you do, you are hit by a wall of smell and rot. As you can see that in the garage, where there should be. Yeah. Anusha's shaking her head because I think you put two together. Yeah. Where you'd expect there to be vehicles, there is instead a pile of bodies of people, mostly, wearing, like, Armitage library merchandise, all of which have mangled ears, as though something has, like, gone in and, like, schlorped out their brains.

[Anusha]

Oh, no.

[Jonathan Sims]

For the legal department. I just want to make it clear I am not accusing anyone at Rusty Quill of being a serial killer.

[Lowry]

That's not what this is.

[Jonathan Sims]

This is just. We're all having fun here. No one is murdering any fans. That is not happening. And I just want to say that.

[Lowry]

Up top just in case, like the minidisc people are listening. Johnny is still okay to sponsor?

[Jonathan Sims]

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

[Lowry]

He is not an accomplice to murder.

[Jonathan Sims]

What a weird thing to say.

[Lowry]

Yeah. Elodie is going to throw up.

[Jonathan Sims]

Oh, by the way, take a couple of points of stress because it's pretty grim, I'd say.

[Lowry]

Yeah. And try and make herself look. Is there a way out through this room?

[Jonathan Sims]

There is the big rolling garage door. It is currently padlocked to the floor in two places. They look like comparatively heavy duty padlocks, but not impossible to break.

[Lowry]

Screw this. She's shutting the door and she's gonna run away. But feel free to cut to someone else.

[Jonathan Sims]

So upstairs, the tongues retreated for a second. Alphonse, are you taking this opportunity to do anything?

[Ian Hales]

Yeah. Is Arthur between me and the door to the Where June is?

[Jonathan Sims]

Yes. Well, I mean, currently, if you took a direct route, you would probably have to go past him, but you could go around the outside of the room to try and reach it.

[Ian Hales]

Yeah, let's sort of cat and mouse it. See if I can get to June.

[Jonathan Sims]

All right, so I'm gonna ask for a speed defense roll to avoid his. Like to avoid his wildly flailing tongue. I would say you probably need a 12. Do you have any skills that might help?

[Ian Hales]

No, not at all.

[Jonathan Sims]

Do you want to spend four points of speed to try and lower the difficulty?

[Ian Hales]

Why the hell not?

[Jonathan Sims]

So you need a nine.

[Anusha]

You got this.

[Ian Hales]

Okie cokey. Let's see if this works.

[Anusha]

Ha.

[Ian Hales]

That's a nine.

[Lowry]

That's a nine.

[Jonathan Sims]

At one point, the tongue wraps itself around your leg, but you notice that to do so, it's gone over like an open drawer and you slam the drawer quickly, causing it to like spasm and withdraw.

[Ian Hales]

Nice.

[Jonathan Sims]

And then, yeah, you make it to the little recording booth. June, unfortunately, is quite clearly dead.

[Ian Hales]

Bollocks.

[Jonathan Sims]

She's had all her head innards schlorped out through her ear.

[Ian Hales]

Oh, no.

[Jonathan Sims]

It looks like this is where Arthur does most of his feeding. There's like caked on blood and skull and bits of cerebrospinal fluid just all about. It's all over the mixing desk as well.

[Ian Hales]

Oh, that's disgusting. The sound quality from that's going to be terrible.

[Jonathan Sims]

To be honest with you, it's pretty gross.

[Pip]

To be fair, it would make sense of the sound quality of most of those recordings. When we listened to them raw, they were pretty bad.

[Ian Hales]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Sims]

Anousha, what's Margot doing?

[Anusha]

Would a lock picking kit contain a full on blade or pocket knife of some kind.

[Jonathan Sims]

If you want to have a pocket knife, I will probably allow you to have a pocket knife.

[Anusha]

I think I'm gonna go for the knife.

[Jonathan Sims]

Are you using the pocket knife to try and defend yourself from the lashing tongue, or are you trying to actually charge the creature and stab it up a bunch?

[Anusha]

I'm trying to actually charge him and, like, bring the knife down the tongue as much as I can down the center of it.

[Jonathan Sims]

Okay.

[Kareem]

All right.

[Jonathan Sims]

It's not gonna be easy.

[Anusha]

Okay.

[Jonathan Sims]

So I'm gonna say it's a speed roll. Base difficulty 15, probably.

[Anusha]

Okay.

[Jonathan Sims]

Do you have anything that might help.

[Anusha]

Discerning motive to see what he's gonna do next?

[Jonathan Sims]

I will say that you can correctly discern his motive of wanting to drink all your fear and brain juices out through your ear. That is his motive. I think this might just be a straight roll. Unless you want to spend some speed to boost it.

[Anusha]

Yeah, I'll spend three on my speed.

[Jonathan Sims]

Brings it down to a 12.

[Lowry]

Cool.

[Anusha]

I will roll that now. That is a 10. That does not make it.

[Jonathan Sims]

Well, I'm afraid you charge at him, but you don't get the tongue. The tongue seems to see what you're doing and sort of twist and squirm away from the blade. I will say that you reach Arthur himself, and you can plunge the little pocket knife into his chest, but nothing happens.

[Anusha]

Okay.

[Jonathan Sims]

There's not even any blood.

[Anusha]

Oh, that's unsettling.

[Jonathan Sims]

Meanwhile, Barry, if you're running back upstairs, you are arriving to the scene of Alphonse is over by the recording booth going like, oh, no. Margot is right up next to Arthur having stabbed him. But Arthur doesn't seem to have really noticed. He's still smiling and being like, thanks so much for the contribution of this knife to my chest. I couldn't have this knife in my chest without you, Elodie. Who knows where Elodie is?

[Lowry]

I know.

[Jonathan Sims]

Having a little breakdown somewhere.

[Pip]

Just trying to call the police.

[Jonathan Sims]

I'm afraid there is no signal. It's not just there's bad signal. There is zero signal. You reckon that someone's treated this building to prevent signal escaping?

[Pip]

Seeing that Margot is, like, closed in and tried to stab him, I'll haul off and punch him in right in the face. Extremely hard, if possible.

[Jonathan Sims]

All right. Tackling. So it's a might roll. I will say that would be a 15. But you are protector of Margot, so that will lower it to a 12. Do you have anything else that might lower it?

[Pip]

Not necessarily. Perception, intimidation are the Only ones that sort of sound vaguely relevant.

[Jonathan Sims]

Okay. I would allow you intimidation if rather than like actually trying to, like, hurt Arthur, you are trying to just, like, establish yourself as the threat.

[Pip]

So I think it's less of a running in and punching him and more closing and shoving him so I can get between him and Margot.

[Jonathan Sims]

Sure.

[Pip]

And I think more out of instinct, he goes, oi, mate, you're barn.

[Jonathan Sims]

Nice. Lovely, lovely, lovely. So that will be a nine. Do you have any might pool left to spend?

[Pip]

I do. I have eight left. So I'm gonna spend two of those to take it down to a six.

[Jonathan Sims]

Yeah. Treat yourself.

[Kareem]

Eleven.

[Pip]

Success.

[Jonathan Sims]

Yep. Hand on the shoulder, you're bard. Immediately, his attention snaps away from Margot to you. And you can feel his tongue sort of starting to wrap its way around you.

[Pip]

I'll stay and just be sort of struggling with him in this moment.

[Jonathan Sims]

Okay. Alphonse. What you doing?

[Ian Hales]

I'm gonna have a quick look at the mixing desk. You said it's still turned on?

[Jonathan Sims]

Yes, it is.

[Ian Hales]

Lots of wires, I'm guessing. Are the wires going in?

[Jonathan Sims]

Yeah, quite a few wires. Headphones, wires, inputs, outputs, all sorts. Bunch of microphones as well.

[Ian Hales]

In sort of mad panic. I'm just going to start pulling the wires out of the desk just because I thought, well, this is his lair. It must be set up for something. Let's see if I can mess it up somehow.

[Jonathan Sims]

Make me an intellect roll. What are your skills?

[Ian Hales]

Occultism, Astronomy, Physics. Discerning motive.

[Jonathan Sims]

Yeah, I'll give you occultism to lower it to a 12.

[Ian Hales]

Okie cokey. Right, here we go. It is a 17.

[Jonathan Sims]

A 17. Okay. Most of the desk is like low key, covered in a little bit of gore. One of the microphones attached to a long cable seems oddly clean. Not so much that it's been cleaned, but that it seems to stand slightly apart from everything else. You get the impression that this might be the microphone he used to use to record his episodes. And there's something in your head, some sort of thematic connection between speech and hearing in the microphone. You don't know exactly how, but you think that microphone might be important somehow. Cut to Elodie. How are you trying to escape?

[Lowry]

I would like to use my once per game ability just because I want to use it. I'm clearing some stress, so I've had a little sick.

[Jonathan Sims]

You've had a little sick.

[Lowry]

I've had a little sit down, had a cry, got some stress out.

[Jonathan Sims]

Yeah, you just got to let it go, you know?

[Lowry]

You have got to let it go.

[Jonathan Sims]

You're actually feeling all right.

[Lowry]

And do you know why?

[Jonathan Sims]

Why?

[Lowry]

Because I never say die. And I am going to find a way out of this building. So I am looking for staff entrances. I'm, like, going through, like, reception. Are there keys at reception? Is there a phone at reception?

[Jonathan Sims]

Okay, there is a big set of keys under the reception desk.

[Lowry]

Oh, God. I have to go into the garage.

[Jonathan Sims]

There are about 30 odd keys on the keyring. And what I'm going to say is, depending on how long the business upstairs takes, basically, if Arthur kills everyone really quickly, I'm going to ask you to roll a D20 to see how many of the keys you've got through before he reaches you. The key to the second padlock is literally the last one you try. You better hope that they keep him busy quite a while upstairs.

[Lowry]

Okay. She grabs the key, she takes a breath, she wraps something around her face and goes into that garage.

[Jonathan Sims]

Margot, what are you doing? Currently, Barry is wrapped up in a tongue. Alphonse is looking at a microphone like, hmm, I wonder. What are you doing?

[Anusha]

I'd like to take the knife from his chest and stab upwards into, like, the root of his tongue from underneath.

[Kareem]

Okay.

[Jonathan Sims]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Speed test, probably level five. I think you'd need a 15. Do you have anything to lower it?

[Pip]

Is there any advantage to be gained from the fact that I'm sort of grappling with him right now?

[Jonathan Sims]

There is, actually. So that'll lower it to a 12.

[Anusha]

Nice. And can I spend some of my speed points? My pool?

[Jonathan Sims]

You can. Do you have any speed edge at all?

[Anusha]

I've got five left. I haven't got an edge.

[Jonathan Sims]

So that'll take three of your remaining five to lower it to a nine. Unfortunately, you're not trying to be strong here, you're trying to be fast.

[Anusha]

That's fine. I have loads of might and intellect left. Okay, that is a seven.

[Jonathan Sims]

That's not enough, I'm afraid. Oh, no. As you go for it, unfortunately, you go a little bit low and you hit him in the throat and he does not really notice. Does Alphonse have anything he wants to try and do?

[Ian Hales]

Ian is thinking there's only a couple of things you can do with a microphone.

[Lowry]

Mic drop, mic drop, mic drop.

[Ian Hales]

Is there a speaker in the room?

[Jonathan Sims]

There's probably a monitor. Speaker in the recording room.

[Ian Hales]

Monitor, yeah. I'm wondering if I should try and provoke a feedback loop. In fact. Yeah, that's what I'm going to do. We'll try and provoke a feedback loop using that microphone next to the monitor. Just shove it into the monitor.

[Jonathan Sims]

You know what I'm just going to say? Yeah. You shove the microphone to the monitor and you turn it up and the feedback loop starts. How loud are you making it?

[Ian Hales]

As loud as I can stand.

[Jonathan Sims]

I'm going to say this is the climactic decision of this adventure. Ian, how many points of stress damage are you going to do to yourself and everyone in this room in terms of feedback volume?

[Pip]

Right.

[Ian Hales]

Remind me how much stress you can actually expel.

[Kareem]

Bend.

[Jonathan Sims]

There are four levels of health. Each of them four stress points. The last level is dead. So you can take up to 12 stress damage before you are dead.

[Ian Hales]

God, like somebody heroic would go to.

[Anusha]

11 before we'd have taken stress.

[Ian Hales]

It seems appropriate for me to turn it up to 11.

[Pip]

It does.

[Anusha]

Well, some of us have taken a good 3 stress already, so we'd be verjeon dead at that point.

[Kareem]

Yes.

[Jonathan Sims]

That will kill everyone, don't you worry.

[Ian Hales]

No, my 11. My 11.

[Jonathan Sims]

Oh, all right. Yeah. Okay. So how many points of stress is that?

[Ian Hales]

I'm currently on six, so it's five points of stress.

[Anusha]

Ah. Oh, I thought you meant, like, adding 11.

[Jonathan Sims]

Okay.

[Ian Hales]

I'm not that stupid. I don't want to die.

[Jonathan Sims]

Die. Okay, perfect. Can everyone make me a level three might roll to resist or potentially gain extra stress.

[Lowry]

Me too, or.

[Jonathan Sims]

No, I mean, you're hearing something horrible going on up there, but you're busy.

[Lowry]

Yeah.

[Anusha]

I would like to expend three points of my might.

[Jonathan Sims]

Yep. So that will lower it to a six for you.

[Anusha]

I got a six.

[Jonathan Sims]

Perfect.

[Pip]

I spent two because I have the might edge. And again, as it seems to have been the theme so far, there was no need to have done that as I've rolled another Nat20.

[Jonathan Sims]

Brilliant. And Ian, are you.

[Ian Hales]

I'm spending and rolling and I got to 10, which is excellent.

[Jonathan Sims]

Okay, marvellous. So, yeah, you all will take the five stress damage from this impossibly loud feedback. Barry, you can feel the tongue sort of convulse and writhe and spasm as it tries to constrict and get into your ear. But, like, the whole of Arthur now is shaking like a horrible waveform with.

[Pip]

The sort of highest possible role. Can I monopolize on this moment of him being slightly impaired by this noise? Because I'm almost like, face to face with him as we're kind of struggling. I want to try and reach up. I want to grab the tongue as close to its base as I can. I want to pull it out of his mouth if I can absolutely. Yeah.

[Jonathan Sims]

You grab the tongue through it perfectly. Clearly, Arthur says, thanks for listening and see you next time. And you pull it out and he just sort of pops in like a gooey, viscous collection of like. It's like liquid noise. It's pretty gross. Yeah. You are all incapacitated. I'm gonna be very, very generous and say Alfonso is able to turn the feedback back down before any further damage is done. You will all have a little bit of deafness from this. Except for Elodie, who about two minutes later pulls up the garage and legs it. Abandons us not bothering to check on any of you.

[Lowry]

How dare you? She's shut. Behind her, the garbage is open.

[Pip]

Run.

[Jonathan Sims]

You hear nothing except a.

[Kareem]

I will.

[Jonathan Sims]

Assume about four hours later the police will arrive. One assumes caught by Elodie.

[Lowry]

Yes.

[Jonathan Sims]

And you'll be taken and your hearing will be treated. Officially, Arthur is listed as a weird serial killer. You get like a little story in in the paper and a lot of hate online for getting the podcast canceled.

[Pip]

If we're headcanning this, Elodie still has all those minidiscs, so we can just release our own version.

[Anusha]

Yeah, can have our own podcast with.

[Pip]

The super graphic real stories, Right? The Barry Archives.

[Jonathan Sims]

Why does the Barry Archives ring a bell? I don't know. I don't want to know.

[Anusha]

Who knows?

[Jonathan Sims]

And yeah, thank you very much for playing the Listening Club. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you all enjoyed listening to it at home. Standard disclaimers. That was not really representative of what a normal at home session of the Magnus Archives tabletop roleplaying game is actually like. That was very much me using the system as just kind of a very loose framework to have some podcast nonsense around. We all have a lot of fun here, but Rusty Quill is actually really cool and does not endorse shoving your tongue in anyone's ears to drink their fear in their brain. That's not something Rusty Quel has ever done, will ever do. And this is just me making fun of my friends. Thank you all for listening. Bye bye. 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 to subscribe, view associated materials or join our Patreon visit rustyquill.com Rate and review us online. Tweet us the RustyQuill, visit us on Facebook or email us via mail rustyquill.com. Thanks for listening.

[Pura Advertisement Voice]

Well, being doesn't have to be a routine. Sometimes it's just feeling grounded the moment you walk into a room. Pura's well Being Collection makes that simple with fragrances that are intentional, fluid, restorative, balanced and smart so your home can feel calm, cozy or refreshed right when you need it. With scent that adapts to your life, well Being feels effortless and personal. Discover the full collection [e-mail] Moods hi.

[Billy Hindle]

Everyone, it's Billy Hindle, the voice of Alice in the Magnus Protocol. Here. Today I'm here to advertise Redacted, a brand new podcast just launched on the RQ Network. Redacted is a procedural Monster of the Week audio drama from Athen and Jamie Petronas, the talented creators of the Grotto and the Cellar Letters. Following the death of his twin, failing actor Jacob Kane assumes his late brother's life in hopes of a fresh start. What he expects to be a simple accounting job turns out to be something far stranger a position within the Redacted unit, an underfunded agency tasked with discreetly handling bizarre and often dangerous paranormal cases. This multi season Monster of the Week series blends procedural horror with sharp humour, all wrapped in a nostalgic 2000s aesthetic. Each episode follows Jacob as he struggles to maintain his deception while the team tackles paranormal threats known as aberrations. Search for Redacted wherever you listen to podcasts or visit theredactedunit.com or rustyquill.com for more information. Have fun and enjoy the episode.