Item #: SCP-7058

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures:

All instances of SCP-7058-01 are to be kept in their designated fireproof safe, sealed and centered in an otherwise empty 10m by 10m room. At least once per week, a D-Class personnel equipped with gloves and a sheet of paper must enter the room containing the safe, for conversion radius maintenance. The resulting new instance is to be deposited into the designated safe with the rest. Before entry, the D-Class is to verbally confirm "I will not let the paper touch my skin."

Paper of any size or type is not permitted within 5m of any known SCP-7058-01 instance, aside from the weekly conversion radius maintenance. If an SCP-7058-01 instance is found outside of containment, it is to be incinerated, or returned to the containment safe as soon as possible (whichever is quicker) by someone with the necessary equipment to avoid skin contact with the instance.

In the event that the designated safe is full, all but one SCP-7058-01 instance may be incinerated.

NOTICE FROM SCP-7058 RESEARCH SUPERVISOR T.SHELBY:

FOLLOWING THE EVENTS OF THE 2022 CONTAINMENT BREACH, NO FURTHER D-CLASS TESTING IS PERMITTED WITHOUT CLEARANCE FROM LVL-4 PERSONNEL OR HIGHER. FOR THE SAFETY OF ALL FOUNDATION STAFF, ANY PERSONNEL ATTEMPTING TO ENTER SCP-7058-01's CONTAINMENT CHAMBER ASIDE FROM CONVERSION RADIUS MAINTAINANCE WILL RECIEVE IMMEDIATE DISCIPLINARY ACTION.

Description:

SCP-7058 is an extradimensional space which varies in shape, size, and contents between instances, but typically takes the form of a medieval courtyard or colosseum. The space is only accessible via skin contact with a "ticket," an 8cm by 12cm sheet of paper labelled "Admittance to The Jester King's Court," designated SCP-7058-01. These tickets have the ability to multiply by converting nearby paper products into more instances of themselves, and the range of this conversion ability has proven to be proportional to the amount of nearby tickets that have recently come into existence. Allowing for controlled conversion of a new SCP-7058-01 instance once per week has been effective in keeping the conversion radius at the minimum range of 5m.

The exact point of contact between an instance of SCP-7058-01 and the skin of a living human becomes a spatial rift, as both the instance and human vanish from existence. This rift, designated SCP-7058-02, is approximately 8 cubic centimeters in volume, and visually appears to be a flickering purple flame. Anyone attempting to touch SCP-7058-02 will find themselves unable to do so, as if they were being repelled by some outside force.

D-Class personnel with body cameras have been sent into SCP-7058 for exploration. Despite the variations in internal environment, the following features remain constant: A large assembly of animated, mummified human remains, which has been collectively designated SCP-7058-03, and a humanoid creature, designated SCP-7058-04, which is approximately 2.5m in height, with blackened decaying flesh and clad in a medieval red and blue jester's uniform.

Upon entry to SCP-7058, the new guest is greeted by laughter and applause from SCP-7058-03, and any attempts to locate an escape route, or inquire about transpiring events, only result in more laughter from the crowd. After the audience has had time to make a spectacle of this new human guest, SCP-7058-04 dramatically announces that it is "The Jester King," and that it has a "spectacular show planned for our next jester."

SCP-7058-04 has the ability to reach into the flesh of its victims and pull them apart, creating two separate identical bodies with identical minds. The only notable difference between the two variations of a victim is color: as one variation exhibits red pigmentation of skin, hair, and irises, while the other variation exhibits blue. After using this ability, SCP-7058-04 enthusiastically explains that only one variation gets to leave the court alive.

The newly divided human guest is always forced into a competition to the death with the identical alteration of themselves. Rules, such as whether weapons are provided, or what types of weapons may be available, vary between iterations. Laughter and applause will frequently occur from SCP-7058-03, but seems to increase in intensity with greater emotional strain on the human guest. Some recordings have been able to pick up heckling amongst SCP-7058-03.

Upon completion of a duel, the surviving variation of the guest is transported back to reality in the place of SCP-7058-02, which disappears. Since footage is only recoverable from the surviving variation, it is unclear exactly what happens to the corpse of the other.

Survivors of SCP-7058 are to remain in the care of Foundation psychologists to be evaluated, until they are cleared to return to their previous living arrangements (amnestics can be administered at psychologist's discretion in the event of returning to society outside of the foundation's care). Pigmentation of the skin and hair will return to normal in 6 to 8 weeks, but the irises remain permanently red, or an unnaturally dark blue, depending on which color variation survived. It is unclear as of this time why the eyes remain colored as such.

Addendum: Containment Breach Witness Interview

Interviewed: Senior Researcher Theodore Shelby

Interviewer: Internal Affairs Agent Richter Auglaize

Foreword: Interview regarding the SCP-7058-01 containment breach on November 21, 2022.

<Begin Log, 11/22/22, 13:00>

Auglaize: Good afternoon, Mr. Shelby.

Shelby: Afternoon?

Auglaize: You've been sleeping for about seventeen hours, yes. I don't blame you, though. You must've went through quite a lot yesterday.

Shelby: Yea… And you're wanting my account of the events?

Auglaize: If you'd be so kind.

Shelby: Ok, then. We had an experiment scheduled for the morning of the 21st, and everything seemed to be going fine until the new research intern, [REDACTED], walked too close to the containment chamber door. Apparently he didn't know that cash counted as a paper product for the purpose of 7058-01 conversion. We hadn't even reviewed the experiment's footage yet, when we noticed all of the paper in the site was converting.

Auglaize: And when exactly did you become aware of the breach?

Shelby: I was taking an early lunch when I noticed the stack of napkins had become a stack of tickets. [REDACTED] had walked past the offices and breakroom with a ticket in his wallet, and the whole site was compromised.

Auglaize: I see. So, how did you find yourself inside of SCP-7058?

Shelby: My paper plate turned into a ticket while I was getting up to help deal with the breach. In truth, I guess I just got up too fast. I lost my balance, and in my reflex response to catch myself, accidently placed my hand on what used to be my plate. That's when I found myself in a ballroom surrounded by laughing corpses.

Auglaize: And then -04 appeared?

Shelby: Yep. SCP-7058-04, "The Jester King" as it calls itself. A tall, decaying, almost skeletal humanoid clad in a jester costume. The bells on its hat are shaped like tiny skulls, I don't think they mention that in the file.

Auglaize: Stay on topic please, Ted.

Shelby: Right, sorry. He reached into me, and… separated me. It's every bit as painful as the subjects make it out to be, if not worse. My hands, as well as the hands of my counterpart, were pulled behind our backs by an unseen force as the Jester King manifested handcuffs for us to wear.

Auglaize: What was it like seeing an identical variant of yourself?

Shelby: Bizarre. Like looking in a mirror, except the reflection moved of it's own volition, and was also blue… maybe the analogy of the mirror falls apart, but I'm sure I'm at least accurately conveying my state of mind.

Auglaize: Of course. So why were you cuffed? What did it have you do next?

Shelby: It made me and Blue Ted fight to the death with only our feet. The audience laughed every time one of us tried getting up without the use of our hands. We were basically just taking turns kicking each other over, and we were there for… I don't know, but it felt like a long time.

Auglaize: Approximately five hours, according to the security watching 7058-02 in the breakroom.

Shelby: Sounds about right, I guess. Anyway, Blue eventually stopped trying to get up. He told me to go ahead and finish him off. He didn't have the strength left to continue. In truth, I don't really think I did either, but I wasn't the one on the floor…

Auglaize: You were allowed to talk to your other self throughout the fight?

Shelby: Yea. The crowd was laughing at us too hard to even hear what we were saying anyways. We noticed a Foundation D-Class uniform amongst SCP-7058-03, and started talking about how messed up it was that we've been doing this to people.

Auglaize: I'm sorry, but are you implying that the loser of a duel gets reanimated to spend their afterlife in the court?

Shelby: It would appear so, yes. I wouldn't have thought of it like that until I actually got an inside look.

Auglaize: …and that's why you ordered a cease of experimentation, I presume?

Shelby: Yep. We had been testing D-Class on this thing since September, but I had no clue I was sending people to eternity as rotten mummies.

Auglaize: I see. So if testing is to cease, will you still be helping to supervise SCP-7058-01's containment?

Shelby: No, absolutely not. I never wanna see that thing again. I already put in a request to be transferred to a different project on site, right before passing out last night. I'm not allowed to say where if this is on record.

Auglaize: I understand. So upon return to reality, you ordered a cease of testing, put in a transfer request, and immediately fell asleep?

Shelby: That sums it up, yea. I woke up just a few minutes before this interview.

Auglaize: Alright, then, Ted, that's all I need for today. Thanks for your time. I wish you a swift recovery.

Shelby: Thanks, Ric.

<End Log, 11/22/22, 13:10>

Closing Statement: Senior Researcher Shelby returned to his duties after one week of leave, and the red coloration of skin and hair receded after approximately 7 weeks. His irises are permanently a deep red hue.

Access SCiPNET Email? One (1) New Message!

Re:Trouble

To: Dr. Athena Logan

From: Agent Richter Auglaize

Subject: Trouble

I just finished the interview with Ted. He doesn't know it was you, and I intend to keep it that way. I understand where you were coming from when you said he needed to "see the error of his ways," but you could've mentioned that you were planning on sabotaging containment. If I'd have have known that, I wouldn't have pulled the strings to get that intern transferred to 7058.

Do you have any idea how much trouble I'm in? How much trouble YOU'RE in? If you don't come back from wherever you've gone, they're sending a task force after you.

To: Agent Richter Auglaize

From: Dr. Athena Logan

Subject: Re:Trouble

You know I wouldn't have sabotaged containment if I didn't have a foolproof plan to escape Foundation notice. No one will find me now.

You don't understand what it was like to work in the psychology ward after Ted Shelby's "experiments." Whether he knew it or not, he was torturing people. Every time I got a new patient from 7058, they would be traumatized, some even finding ways to take their own life despite my intervention.

I even made a plea to the Ethics Committee, you know. They said as long as new information is being gathered, testing could still be necessary for 7058, and they just made a few simple rules to "ensure the ethical treatment of subjects" as they went into a supernatural slaughterhouse. The Foundation is a joke, and I'm glad to be out of its influence.

Don't even bother trying to contact me again. You won't be able to. The Foundation can send whoever they want… no one will be able to reach me anymore.

Goodbye.