The Magnus Protocol 45 - Transferal

Summary

The Magnus Protocol: Episode 45 - Transferal

Release Date: July 31, 2025

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Episode Overview

In Episode 45 of The Magnus Protocol titled "Transferal," the narrative delves deep into the intertwined lives of Sam, Melanie, Basira, and Georgie as they grapple with mysterious dreams, hidden pasts, and unforeseen identities. This episode masterfully blends elements of horror, mystery, and supernatural intrigue, continuing the anthology's tradition of captivating storytelling.

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Sam's Disturbing Nightmare (02:01 - 09:01)

The episode opens with Sam recounting a vivid and unsettling nightmare to Melanie. Unlike typical dreams, Sam's experience feels palpably real and intensely distressing. He describes being trapped in a dark cupboard at the Ackman Blaine Mild law firm, feeling confined by "a perfect shell of bone pressed against me" (02:46). The sensation is not only physical but deeply psychological, culminating in the distant, agonized screams of a figure named Alice pleading for Sam to reclaim his true identity.

A pivotal moment occurs when Sam expresses confusion and a lack of fear, stating, "I should have been terrified. I should have been panicking and screaming, but I wasn't" (08:19). This detachment hints at deeper underlying issues related to his true self and possible connections to others who have encountered similar phenomena.

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Melanie's Backstory and the Magnus Institute (10:24 - 16:02)

Melanie shifts the conversation to her own past, revealing her history with the Magnus Institute as a ghost hunter. She recounts her experiences working alongside Basira and others, navigating dangerous encounters and uncovering unsettling truths about their employers. Melanie narrates, "We dodge the end of the world a couple of times, figure out we're actually working for the bad guys, and I decide to call it quits" (10:43).

Her decision to leave the Institute was not just about escaping malevolent forces but also led to significant personal connections, particularly with Georgie. Melanie notes, "That job was how I got together with Georgie" (11:23), highlighting the intertwined fates of the characters involved.

Melanie further explains the unique circumstances that set her and Georgie apart from others: "We don't have our own domains, we could pop in and out of other people's if we wanted" (12:38). This ability allowed them to observe various realms without being tethered to a single one, providing a broader perspective on the supernatural events unfolding around them.

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The Reveal: Sam's True Identity (17:13 - 19:27)

The climax of the episode centers on the shocking revelation of Sam's true identity. Through a series of conversations, it becomes evident that Sam is, in fact, Celia—a figure previously believed to be lost or deceased. Melanie confronts Sam directly, "You're Celia. What does she look like?" (17:45), prompting Sam to acknowledge his true self.

Sam elaborates on his relationship with Celia, mentioning, "Celia and I were sort of dating. At least we were until, well, I came here" (16:54). This admission not only redefines his character but also ties him more intricately to the overarching plot involving the Hilltop Portal and Towerfall.

The discovery raises critical questions about Sam/Celia's motives and the broader implications for the group's mission. With Sam now fully aware of his identity, the dynamics within the team shift, setting the stage for future conflicts and alliances.

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Implications and Future Directions (19:27 - End)

As the episode concludes, the team grapples with the implications of Sam's revelation. Melanie urges the group to focus on eliminating the archivist, believing that doing so will allow Sam to return home and address unresolved issues with Celia. "Once we get rid of it, then I can go home. And then. Then I'll have a little talk with Celia and we'll see if we can straighten some things out" (18:58).

The conversation underscores the urgency of their mission and the intricate personal stakes involved. With the archivist posing a significant threat, the team is poised to confront new dangers, leveraging their unique abilities and knowledge gleaned from their past experiences.

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Notable Quotes

• "I should have been terrified. I should have been panicking and screaming, but I wasn't." — Sam (08:19)

• "We dodge the end of the world a couple of times, figure out we're actually working for the bad guys, and I decide to call it quits." — Melanie (10:43)

• "We don't have our own domains, we could pop in and out of other people's if we wanted." — Melanie (12:38)

• "You're Celia. What does she look like?" — Melanie (17:45)

• "Once we get rid of it, then I can go home. And then. Then I'll have a little talk with Celia and we'll see if we can straighten some things out." — Sam (18:58)

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Conclusion

Episode 45 of The Magnus Protocol weaves a complex tapestry of personal identity, supernatural intrigue, and the relentless pursuit of truth. As Sam uncovers his true self and confronts the lingering shadows of his past, the stage is set for intensified conflicts and deeper explorations into the enigmatic world of the Magnus Institute. Fans can look forward to Season 2 of The Magnus Protocol as the story continues to evolve with new twists and revelations.

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For more details, subscribe to The Magnus Protocol, view associated materials, or join the community on Rusty Quill's website.

Transcript

[Sam]

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[Rusty Quill]

Rusty Quill presents the Magnus Protocol episode 45 Transfer.

[Sam]

It.

[Melanie]

Alice. Alice. Nightmare or monster?

[Sam]

No, I don't.

[Melanie]

Nightmare or monster?

[Sam]

Nightmare. Nightmare. Would you put the poker down, Melanie?

[Melanie]

All right. Yes. Yep. Sorry. Can't be too careful here.

[Sam]

No, it's fine. That was it. Felt so real.

[Melanie]

I'm guessing it was a domain. Nightmare.

[Sam]

What?

[Melanie]

Oh, wait. Yeah. You never had a domain, did you?

[Sam]

I don't know. That was not a normal dream. That was.

[Melanie]

Interesting. Felt real. Did it?

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Melanie]

And impossibly awful.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Melanie]

But also, weirdly, sort of familiar.

[Sam]

Melanie, what's going on?

[Melanie]

It's just a theory, but I think you might be getting our Sam's dream.

[Sam]

I thought he was dead.

[Melanie]

Pretty sure he is.

[Sam]

So how is that possible?

[Melanie]

No idea. Want to talk about it?

[Sam]

Not really.

[Melanie]

Suit yourself. Some people say it helps, but. Well, if you change your mind, you know where I am.

[Sam]

What, the actual Jesus.

[Melanie]

Relax. It's not like I'll see anything I shouldn't. Forgot my poker. Right. Last chance or I'm going back to bed. Georgie and Basira will need breakfast when they get back from night shift, and I'll need to be up early to get the AGA going, so.

[Sam]

Really think it will help?

[Melanie]

It normally does. But then again, you are an alien from another dimension, so who the hell knows?

[Sam]

Fine. All right.

[Melanie]

Doing me a favor, are you?

[Sam]

Sorry. I don't mean to be ungrateful. Just a little bit rattled. Melanie, I would like to talk about it. If you listen.

[Melanie]

Go on then. When you're ready.

[Sam]

So I'm not sure where to start.

[Melanie]

It normally doesn't matter. I'm told it's more about the journey than making sense of it.

[Sam]

Right. I guess that makes sense. I was back at Ackman Blaine Mild law firm. And I was getting something from the stationary cupboard. Paper, I think, from the top shelf. Then the door slammed shut behind me. And it was dark. Completely dark. I tried to turn, to reach for the handle and throw the door open, but I couldn't move. At first I thought I was afraid, but I wasn't. Not yet. I was just stuck. Pinned on all sides. There was no pressure, but it was as though the entire cupboard had closed around me. Like a casket or an iron maiden. I tried to at least shift my weight, but I couldn't. I couldn't even wriggle my toes. I wasn't paralyzed, though. I was just held in place by something. I tried to struggle, but there wasn't room to tense a single muscle. I couldn't breathe, but that didn't seem to matter. No light, no noise, no air. No idea of up or down or anything. Just perfect stillness. And the feeling of something pressing against my skin. Not crushing, but utterly immovable and familiar. Bone. Living. Born smooth and warm and damp. A perfect shell of bone pressed against me. I should have been terrified. I should have been panicking and screaming, but I wasn't. I was just confused. It felt wrong. Unpleasant, yes, strange and painful, even. But not frightening. Mostly I was just confused, as though it wasn't meant for me. Then it began to shrink. It was slow, awfully slow, but I felt it instantly cross my entire body. Not that deep ache of building pressure, but bright and sharp, as though I was being cut all over. Except there were no points of focus, no bright lines of pain that drowned out the surrounding feelings with a loudness. It was more like the same single knife, bright and sharp, cutting into your skin, everywhere, all at once, almost like a burn. But again, even through all that pain, I could still tell something was off. It felt real, yes, but more like someone was trying to demonstrate the feeling to me. Like I was eavesdropping on someone else's suffering instead of really feeling it. The bone pushed inwards, slicing through my skin, through my muscle, deeper and deeper, until finally the bones outside met the bones inside, and I couldn't tell one from the other. I don't know how long I was held there, frozen in sharp bone. The whole process had been utterly silent and dark, and I was too distracted by the pain and confusion to care. But eventually, after what seemed like forever, I heard a single, distant voice. Alice. She was so quiet at first I couldn't be sure I heard her at all. A tiny breath of sound at the very edge of my hearing, as though she was screaming in agony on the distant horizon of a still and silent ocean. I strained to hear her through the overwhelming silence, and finally I could make it out. She was screaming my name over and over and over, begging me with joy and grief that it wasn't meant for me. I was just a pretender, a shadow on the wall of his life. We were there together, trapped in a distant, intimate awfulness. And there was nothing I could do but listen to her scream for the person I meant to be instead of who I am.

[Melanie]

Well, that sounds Crap. Sorry it happened to you.

[Sam]

But that's the thing. It didn't. Did. Happened to them. To him. I'm just stealing it.

[Melanie]

Borrowing. Maybe. But if he was still around, I doubt he'd be eager to keep it.

[Sam]

I'm not so sure. Alice, this Alice. I think she'd fight to keep it.

[Melanie]

Yeah. Georgie did mention she was a dreamer. Sounds like it's probably a good thing you didn't feel at home.

[Sam]

Is it different for you?

[Melanie]

How so?

[Sam]

Like, if you dream about your thing, does it seem more real or. Sorry. Sorry, that's private. I wasn't thinking.

[Melanie]

No, no, it's nothing like that. It's just. Georgie and I, we don't dream. Well, I mean, we. We do dream, but we don't dream. Dream. You know, Never have.

[Sam]

Oh, I thought everyone. Yep.

[Melanie]

Well, Georgie and I are. We're different. Right. Oh, fine. I'm not gonna be able to get back to sleep anyway.

[Sam]

Comfy?

[Melanie]

I'll manage. Right. Where was I?

[Sam]

You're different.

[Melanie]

Yes. So, back before everything went to hell, I was a ghost hunter for a while. You have those back home?

[Sam]

What, like reality TV?

[Melanie]

I mean, I was more YouTube, but, yeah, same thing. So one day I'm making my show and I see something weird.

[Sam]

Wasn't that the goal?

[Melanie]

Different kind of weird. I mean, it wasn't much. You wouldn't even call it in these days, but back then. Anyway, I end up going to have a talk with the Magnus Institute and run into Jonathan bloody Sims. Wait, wasn't he our archivist? Yep. Only he wasn't the archivist back then. He was. He was just a pain in the ass. Long story short, after a bunch of bullshit and bad decisions, I end up working there for a while with Basira and a few other folks. We dodge the end of the world a couple of times, figure out we're actually working for the bad guys, and I decide to call it quits.

[Sam]

Why stick it out that long?

[Melanie]

The severance was rough. Point being, that job was how I got together with Georgie.

[Sam]

But I thought she didn't work there.

[Melanie]

No, she. She had an ex who did. It's. It's complicated. Point is, she had seen her own weirdness back in the day and had ended up with all her fear cut out of her.

[Sam]

I'm sorry, what?

[Melanie]

I don't know how else to explain it. Some monster took all her fear.

[Sam]

So, what, she just doesn't get afraid?

[Melanie]

Pretty much. It actually ended up making her more cautious in some ways, since she can't trust her instincts anymore.

[Sam]

That explains a lot. Hang on. Would she be okay with you telling me this?

[Melanie]

Oh, yeah. She prefers people know if it might be important. Anyway, jump ahead, and the world ends when I'm not there to stop it. Only things are different for me and Georgie compared with everyone else. We're sort of on the outside looking in.

[Sam]

Because Georgie can't get scared.

[Melanie]

You can't trap someone with something that doesn't exist, right?

[Sam]

I guess. And you?

[Melanie]

Let's just say that having former Magnus Institute patsy on your CV started to carry some special perks.

[Sam]

What, like immune to the apocalypse?

[Melanie]

It's more like gets to go backstage. Because we didn't have our own domains, we could pop in and out of other people's if we wanted. We could even pull people out if we were careful, but it was dangerous and, well, they. They didn't always make it. Anyway, all this meant that we got to see, you know, hear, feel, smell a bunch of domains without ever having one of our own. So once everything got back to what counts for normal now, we were lucky enough not to get dreams with a capital D. Just your standard bog. Basic ptsd.

[Sam]

I mean, that's hardly great, sure, but.

[Melanie]

It'S still the lesser evil.

[Sam]

Fair point. Not sure where that leaves me, though.

[Melanie]

Somewhere between the two, I'd guess.

[Sam]

Georgie said I should tell her if anything weird happens. Do you think this counts?

[Melanie]

Tough call. On the one hand, I'm pretty sure she'd want to know about it, but. But on the other, she's only just started to trust you a bit. This is the sort of thing that would set her off again.

[Sam]

So what? Don't mention it.

[Melanie]

No, I think you should. They'll need all the info they can get if they're going to bring down your archivist. And if she overreacts, you'll stick up for me? I'll definitely try to make her feel a little bit guilty after she ties you to a chair.

[Sam]

Gee, thanks.

[Basira]

I don't like it.

[Melanie]

Yeah, but what do you like, really? Books.

[Basira]

And knowing that people aren't getting turned into avatars while my back is turned.

[Sam]

I mean, I did tell you as soon as you got back.

[Melanie]

He did.

[Basira]

And when did you two suddenly become best friends?

[Georgie]

She acts tough, but she's got a.

[Melanie]

Soft spot for strays.

[Basira]

You can talk.

[Melanie]

Speaking of, the Admiral seems to like him, so that's a good sign.

[Georgie]

And we're certain his archivist wasn't involved in the nightmare?

[Sam]

I keep telling you, it's not my arc.

[Melanie]

I Think so. No obvious connections. It wasn't even a particularly bad one, as domain nightmares go.

[Sam]

I mean, it didn't feel great, but whatever. I'll take your word for it. I guess it was fine then. Uh huh.

[Georgie]

Too tired for this. He seems fine. And it's not like we can do anything differently right now. You're cool, Bazira. I'm okay with it. But if you're seeing something I'm not, let me know.

[Basira]

Fine. But if you start sprouting eyes or whatever, I'll put him down myself.

[Melanie]

It's fine. We lance them and they've basically healed by this point.

[Sam]

Christ.

[Melanie]

So how are things looking with the wardens?

[Georgie]

Not great. No more victims.

[Sam]

Sounds good to me.

[Georgie]

But no other signs either. It's laying low again and we still don't have a way to track it.

[Basira]

I'm telling you, it'll be in the Square Mile. It's the only place that makes any sense.

[Georgie]

You're probably right.

[Basira]

You give me three good teams and that APC you've got, and I reckon we can have this done in a day, maybe two.

[Sam]

Again, sounds good to me. Sign me up.

[Georgie]

I don't have three good teams. There aren't many First Wave wardens left on duty and you couldn't take the rookies. Especially when everything's all riled up like this.

[Basira]

It's worth the risk.

[Georgie]

We don't even know it's in there. That's a lot to risk on a maybe.

[Sam]

Hmm.

[Melanie]

I'm curious. How would your oir handle this?

[Sam]

Okay, firstly, it's Oiar.

[Melanie]

That's what I said.

[Sam]

Secondly, we already tried and mucked it up, remember? That's why it's here.

[Melanie]

Well, yeah, but based on what Georgie said, I sort of assumed you were like the B team or something, you know?

[Sam]

Wow. Thanks, but no. We were it. Unless you come to Starkwall.

[Georgie]

Starkwall?

[Sam]

Psycho, PMC mercenary types. I never met them, but I got the impression they were bad news. Hmm. Pass.

[Georgie]

Agreed.

[Sam]

So, yeah, once Celia and I made it to the Hilltop center, we were basically on our own. Who? Celia? Georgie didn't mention her. We worked together at the Oiar, and we were sort of dating. At least we were until, well, I came here.

[Melanie]

He never said she was called Celia.

[Georgie]

He mentioned her in interrogation. And with everything else going on, I never got around to checking up on it.

[Sam]

What's wrong?

[Melanie]

You're Celia. What does she look like?

[Sam]

Er, well, she's really pretty.

[Melanie]

We need actual detail, Sam, not a dating profile doll. Dark hair, Welsh accent.

[Sam]

Yeah, but she doesn't. I didn't tell you that.

[Melanie]

No, you didn't.

[Basira]

What am I missing here?

[Georgie]

You're Celia. Did she ever talk about where she came from?

[Sam]

Oh, well, she's always been a pretty private person. And I respect that. But at the end, before I fell through to here, she told me. Oh, shit.

[Basira]

Okay, someone needs to actually say what you're realizing. Otherwise, I'm just gonna go back to the commune. I don't have time for all this Pinta bullshit.

[Melanie]

She came from here, didn't she?

[Georgie]

Of course she got away. She made it.

[Sam]

You knew her?

[Melanie]

She was one of the ones we pulled out of their domain. We looked after her for a while, then we lost track of her around Towerfall. We thought she'd been killed.

[Basira]

I didn't really know your little cult that well. She was the one without any memories, Right?

[Georgie]

That's her.

[Sam]

So all this time, she didn't just know about the Hilltop Portal, she knew it led here.

[Georgie]

And what, she was trying to get home?

[Sam]

I don't think so. She must have had plenty of chances before taking me there.

[Melanie]

Maybe she doesn't know Towerfall happened.

[Basira]

Meaning she took Sam there and didn't even warn him.

[Melanie]

I mean.

[Georgie]

You alright there, Sam?

[Sam]

Yeah, I'm fine.

[Melanie]

You don't sound fine.

[Sam]

Let's just focus on dealing with the archivist. Once we get rid of it, then I can go home. And then. Then I'll have a little talk with Celia and we'll see if we can straighten some things out.

[Rusty Quill]

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 J. Newell and directed by Alexander J. Newell. This episode was written by Alexander Jay Newell and edited with additional materials by Jonathan Sims with vocal edits by Nico Vitesse, soundscaping by Meg McKellar and mastering by Catherine Ranella, with music by Sam Jones. It featured Shahan Hamza as Samalma Khalid, Sasha Sienna as Georgie Barker, and Lydia Nicholas as Melanie King. The Magnus Protocol is produced by April Sumner with executive producers Alexander J. Newell, Danny McDonough, Lynn C. And Samantha F.G. hamilton. Associate producers Jordan L. Hawke, Taylor Michaels, Nicole Perlman, Ctieravan and Megan. Nice to subscribe, View associated materials or join our Patreon visit rustyquill.com Rate and review us online. Tweet us the Rusty Quill, visit us on Facebook or email us@mail rustyquill.com thanks for listening.

[Sam]

Foreign.

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