(TEXT)

[hexrot]

FILE: RUNIC SCRIPT
FILE: TENANTS, 1-6

FILE: THAUMATURGIC REACTIONS & GLYPH COMBINATIONS – EXPERIMENTAL OBSERVATIONS PERFORMED BY JAYCE TALIS, OVERSEEN BY VIKTOR

OBJECTIVE OF TEST: To investigate the possible magical interactions between different runes, identify their combined effects, and assess their stability, potency, and potential applications.

[ there's more technical text such as an outline, hypothesis, methodology, a mention of using the combinations as a way to trigger a reverse transport and return people to their own world and time, etc, but that's mostly unimportant here. skip right to the personal entries: ]

ENTRY 1: COMBINATION 1A (MOTION + SPIRIT)
— Runic Script: Transcribed.
— These runes don't work with a channeling source. (Not needed? Or not the right one?)
— A burst of light, buzzing white noise and what felt like a psychical shock inside my head sprang after both runes were drawn together.
— Viktor did not experience anything of the sort. Sole user of the runes affected.
— Disorienting.
— 30 minutes post combination and I'm feeling restless. Can't keep still. I'll go for a walk.
— Result: unsatisfactory.
— Started feeling hungry again. It's different this time. Just what I needed.

ENTRY 2: COMBINATION 1A
— I had a dream last night.
— "Dream" feels fantastical. Felt more like a vision.
— They come in flashes: the moon breaks apart. Moon shards rain down on a cityscape and destroy it. A woman wails right before I wake up.
— Observation: Day 5 post combination and the same dream persists. Every night.

[ attached are sketches of the scenes, both on paper and a crumbling wall. ]

ENTRY 3: COMBINATION 2B (MOTION + TIME)
— Day 6. Dream persists, for the record.
— Immediate burst to the head similar to 1A. Difference is that I bled from every orifice (not as severely as 1° COD) and grew a rack of antlers.
— Health deteriorated near instantaneously, senses heightened and hunger escalated.
— Fed on blood. Health restored just as instantaneously. Never felt better (a scary thought, but one for another entry).

ENTRY 4: COMBINATION 2B
— The dream changed.
— I keep seeing someone tied to an altar. Can't make out if it's a man or a woman. They change into a monster before being sacrificed where they were tied. Also indistinct what monster. I can only remember an awful shape and sound.
— Day 8: Same dream.
— Day 10: It doesn't stop. I sleep but there's no rest.
— Day 13: I was tied to the altar this time. My body tore and broke itself apart to grow into something horrific. Six limbs, too many bones and rot. Couldn't stop screaming. Even the scream was ghastly. I was sacrificed.
— Day 14: Again.
— Day 16: Again.
— Day 18: We should terminate the experiment. I want to, but at the same time I feel like we're close to something we wouldn't have learned about this world otherwise. What if it's the key to returning?
— Got my hands dirty, might as well see it through. The safest option is a dead man doing it.
— "If you're going through hell, keep going."
— Remember your promise.
— All that remained were fields of dreamless solitude.
— I won't fail. I swore.

[ attached are more drawings of the dream. with each passing sketch, the imagery becomes more manic, messy and eerie. ]

ENTRY 3: COMBINATION 3C (MIND + LIFE)
— It hurts
— suspecting that there is no correlation to effects and glyph combinations i theorize that no matter the combo the effects will only get worse

ENTRY 5: COMBINATION 3C
It's all I hear all I hear is i need you i see you i need you i see you i need you i see you i NEED YOU I SEE YOU I NEEDYOUISEEYOUINEEDYOUISEEYOUINEEDYOUISEEYOUINEEDYOUISEEYOUINEEDYOUISEEYOU

[ it goes on for about 6 pages before becoming illegible. ]

CONCLUSION: FAILURE. GLYPH COMBINATION EXPERIMENT TERMINATED.
HAZARDS ENCOUNTERED: The following symptoms and events were experienced after Combination 3: explosive mental discomfort, incessant auditory hallucinations (SEE: NOTES, ENTRY 5, 3C), paranoia, disorientation, and insistent & focused monster attacks until sunrise. At dawn I heard the words: NEXT TIME YOU ARE MINE.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE SAFETY MEASURES: Immediate suspension of activity. DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE, ATTEMPT TO REPLICATE THIS EXPERIMENT!!

No more tests will be performed until further notice. If you still attempt to use glyphs in any way after reading this, the consequences are on you alone. Don't be a shithead.

The glyph for MOTION was found mostly by the gas stations and appeared with more frequency when the storms neared. Something to keep in mind.

If you have any inquiries, I'll do my best to answer them.

I'm sorry.

Comments

[undyingcrow]

Of course.

[Give him a moment to fetch his notes. It's easier than accounting from memory.]

A being named Serenith gave orders, to which the speaker obeyed. They spoke with intention to annihilate all of the Wardens in exchange for murdered "packs."

The second message I recall was roughly, "They gave me a pack, a place to belong." Paraphrased, mind you, but perhaps others may recall the other messages.

It's yet another puzzle to piece together...

[hexrot]

Maybe so. In the end, that's still your opinion.

[hexrot]

Doesn't make it less awful.

Akechi found a journal entry that speaks of the Moon as if it were in pain, and that a ritual would soothe it.

[ he'll get it. it's easier than leaving parts out. ]

"Moon mourns, call her down, ease her pain-"

"Need […] Better vessels from afar. Stronger souls-"

"Imbue with moon sigils, Give blessings of moon, share her pain. Put the ritual right."

If the Moon is their god, it lines up with the data base entry for the Silver Tears. Have you seen that?

[serialmurderbot]

[Okay, so its risk assessment module is usually shitty at properly calculating odds - it loves to underestimate danger.

That doesn't stop SecUnit from throwing a shitton of math into the next message it sends to Jayce, a whole condensed pile of calculations based on variables like the drop in performance reliability and sharp increase in poor decision making that result from lack of sleep, the likelihood of bleeding from every orifice to signal permanent injury or death in humans, and a whole bunch of numbers about the chance for unknown symbols to indicate hazards (high), with a number of variables noted for things like 'alien contamination' and 'strange synthetics.'

Underlying all the math, though, is this simple principle: what are the risks, and how can they be avoided to keep people alive?]

Funny. I reached the same conclusion you did without having to bleed out of my eyeballs first.

[... Okay so it's maybe annoyed by the implication that its expertise is just 'its opinion.]

[constantvrunning]

I do not believe I got around to sharing mine. I can send you a picture, with my drone M-Bot's assistance.

I also received a message from the shrine, which I have uploaded to the Convoy's collective archives. It concerns the Sixth Tenet. Have you been able to view it?

[As concerned as V was, they're at least willing to be cooperative.]

[hexrot]

[ alright robocop

but no, this is all fascinating for the time it was done under, leaving jayce gawking through files upon files of math, his language— well, of course an automation thinks so. it's all pure math and logic. logic says this is fucking stupid to realize and, well. true! ]

You're missing a variable, Sec.

[hexrot]

Wardens are mentioned both in the Third Tenant and the Steel Wardens data file. They hunt monsters.

Why attack us, though?

[serialmurderbot]

[It's a good thing they're not having this conversation in person - otherwise the way it physically recoiled at the nickname would be way too fucking obvious, and it would never have a chance of pretending to be unaffected in hopes that Jayce never does that again.

Instead it just gets to mess up its argument in other ways, by saying;]

I am not.

[It is, because it's impossible to include every single variable even in complex calculations like the ones it's capable of, but it's pretty damn sure it got all of the actually important ones.]

[hexrot]

I'm not alive. Not anymore.

[hexrot]

I'd appreciate it.

"Look Beyond". I remember it.

[constantvrunning]

[It is a couple of minutes before V uploads the photo, but Jayce will find himself with a secured file. V's sigil looks vaguely felinoid, and the whole thing glows a soft blue.]

What would you say is the general theme of these tenets, exactly?

[undyingcrow]

I wonder if the monsters are merely territorial and see us as a threat. It could also be that those who emerge from the Husks can no longer discern friend from foe.

No doubt, the Steel Wardens would see us as a blight to purge from this world. If our transformations are a "curse" and a "punishment" in their eyes, then we've no reason to trust them.

[airskate]

[ It's not hard to read between those lines. ]

You think they might only be meant for the people from this world?

[hexrot]

If a bond between rune and scribe calls for specifics, yes. It can be a possible theory.

It's plausible this Arcane can't be harnessed by people who aren't born with a connection to it. We were imbued. Artificial.

[hexrot]

If they can't decern, how are they making deals?

"Trust no Warden." But if I'll be honest, we can't trust either groups.

[hexrot]

[ huh. looks like a cat. jayce tucks that into his general notes and his mental library; if anything, he could ask out of curiosity's sake later. ]

They're directives with a near eligious flare, likely exhorted the Silver Tears, to follow as monsters "blessed" by the Moon. There's six in total.

[airskate]

[ ... Hm. ]

What if one us changes enough that we stop changing? Could they work better then?

[constantvrunning]

[V's going to have to re-review all those notes theirsself, soon.]

And the other statements we've acquired are about the runes. Did this Silver Tears group codify them, or is that possible to tell based on what we know now?

[serialmurderbot]

[There are so many fucking snarky responses to that that queue up in its brain, most of which involve 'okay the fatalism is going a bit far and that's saying something coming from me.' Why do humans insist on being dramatic and metaphorical about this?]

I don't see how that's relevant to the current situation.

[hexrot]

It's entirely relevant if you take it seriously.

Half of your calculations and concerns wouldn't apply.

[undyingcrow]

A valid point.

The radio broadcasts seem to be from the perspective of monsters. Hunting, packs... It blurs the lines.

It could be that they grew more bestial over time, senses consumed by the monsters they became...

I'll have to go over the tenants once more, but I think your intuition is correct. I can't say I even trust the convoy itself, for as much as we rely on it.

[serialmurderbot]

Dead humans aren't usually great at typing.

[hexrot]

I don't know how to explain that beyond "animated corpse".

[serialmurderbot]

Whatever's wrong with you, you're clearly not comatose, have not lost memory, altered significantly in personality, articulation, or other signs of loss of brain function.

Yet.

[bufudine]

[This all feels so... familiar.]

The similarities this world has to the world I left is unsettling.

[Like he's trapped in another cycle...]

I haven't seen the entry.